Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) has met with NASA leaders to discuss opportunities for the space agency to establish an unmanned aircraft systems traffic management program in North Dakota he believes would highlight the state’s UAS sector.
Hoeven seeks to help facilitate a partnership between NASA’s Ames Research Center, Northern Plains UAS Test Site and Grand Forks’ Grand Sky Technology Park, Hoeven’s office said in a release posted Tuesday.
In that release, he said the Northern Plains Test Site and Grand Sky Technology Park have infrastructure and manpower that could help NASA develop a traffic management system to integrate UAS in national civilian airspace.
Hoeven also wants to help North Dakota obtain an Federal Aviation Administration approval for beyond-line-of-sight operations to further endorse the Northern Plains Test Site for NASA’s UAS traffic management system and other programs of the agency, his office said.
The Northern Plains Test Site led close-proximity UAS flight tests in April to help NASA evaluate its traffic management platform.
