NASA schedules low-altitude FarmFlux research flights near Amarillo from October 22
Residents near Amarillo, Texas, may see low-flying research aircraft as NASA schedules FarmFlux flights over agricultural land from October 22 through November 9. The agency’s updated October 20 notice says a Dynamic Aviation A200 will measure gases and particles associated with animal-feeding operations.
News date: 2026-10-20 · Checked: 2026-10-21 (Asia/Bangkok)
Residents near Amarillo, Texas, may see low-flying research aircraft as NASA schedules FarmFlux flights over agricultural land from October 22 through November 9. The agency’s updated October 20 notice says a Dynamic Aviation A200 will measure gases and particles associated with animal-feeding operations.
Three key points
- The announced Texas flight period is October 22–November 9, 2026, near Amarillo.
- FarmFlux will use more than a dozen sensors to examine agricultural emissions and atmospheric interactions.
- NASA corrected the location in its notice; the flights are planned research, not a report of measured pollution levels.
Why the aircraft will fly over agricultural land
NASA describes the mission as a way to study an important but understudied part of the land–atmosphere system. Its instruments will examine substances including methane, ammonia, ozone and particulates rather than relying on a single sensor.
The mission is jointly led by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Colorado State University and Boston University. The Texas work focuses on animal-feeding operations, while additional P-3 Orion research flights are planned for the 2027 growing season in the Midwest and California’s Central Valley with a cropland focus.
Use the corrected location when following the notice
An editor’s note says NASA originally published the announcement on October 15 and updated it to correct the flight location. The current notice names Amarillo. It does not provide a detailed flight-by-flight timetable or identify individual facilities as pollution offenders.
The original notice and mission page were checked October 21. The photograph is a USDA archival image of a grazing-system water facility from 2009, used only as agricultural context. It does not show a NASA flight site or participating farm.
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