Introduction
In an innovative collaboration, the NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative (NESEC) is joining forces with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) to launch the 2025 Aviation Weather Mission. The objective of this mission is to engage cadets and senior members in collecting aviation-relevant observations.
2025 Aviation Weather Mission
The 2025 Aviation Weather Mission is a unique initiative that involves Civil Air Patrol cadets, students aged between 11 and 20, and senior members. It will be conducted from April through July 2025. Key tasks include the collection of:
- Airport conditions
- Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Cloud observations
- Commercial aircraft information, such as registration number and altitude
- Satellite collocations provided by the NASA GLOBE Clouds team at NASA Langley Research Center
The mission is designed to provide valuable data while also helping cadets develop crucial skills, such as flight tracking, orienteering, and data management.
Previous Successes
This mission builds upon the success of a previous collaboration between NESEC and CAP. During the partial and total solar eclipses of 2023 and 2024, more than 400 teams, comprising over 3,000 cadets and over 1,000 senior members, were engaged in data collection across every state, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.
Support for the Mission
In early February, Science Activation sent a letter of collaboration to CAP Major General Regena Aye, showing their support for the mission. NESEC, which is led by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AE28A, is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio.
Participation
So far, over 3,000 cadets in 46 wings (states) have signed up to participate in the 2025 Aviation Weather Mission, promising another landmark event in scientific collaboration.
Conclusion
The 2025 Aviation Weather Mission provides an exciting opportunity for young people to participate in real-world scientific research. It also reinforces the model of collaboration between scientific and public organizations to achieve greater knowledge and understanding of our world and beyond.
