It’s gathering “extremely precise” wind measurements using an instrument that sends out 200 laser pulses per second from an aircraft. By documenting how those pulses bounce off aerosol particles, NASA ...

or how wind changes in speed and direction with height. Vertical wind shear is present nearly everywhere on Earth, since winds typically move faster at higher altitudes than at the surface.

A commercial airliner can weigh anywhere from 100,000 pounds to over a million pounds. It is astonishing how such gargantuan weight can not only take off from the ground, but also routinely fly ...