An unidentified low-lying aircraft was spotted over sections of Guilford on

July 26. According to NASA, the craft was a four-engine DC-8 that was participating in research missions in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study urban air quality.

NASA said, “(t)heir goal is to study the air quality hovering over some of our most densely populated spaces in North America, including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Toronto. The DC-8 will conduct a series of low-altitude flights in order to investigate urban emissions and the atmospheric chemical reactions that affect air quality and climate.”

The mission is called AEROMMA, and personnel at NOAA will be “leading the scientific investigations,” according to a press release from NASA.

“The AEROMMA project—Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas—is a collaboration between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA. From the end of June 2023 through mid-August, scientists will use NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, the largest flying science laboratory in the world, to fly low over several cities to collect data on pollution sources. The DC-8 is operated by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center.”

The project is designed to bring together airborne, ground, and satellite observation systems to measure the impact of emissions on North American cities.