One of the experimental planes NASA is evaluating for use as an "atmospheric satellite" crashed last week on Interstate-40 about four miles east of Barstow, Calif.

The Perseus B -- a remotely-piloted, gasoline-fueled aircraft designed to fly at high altitudes -- malfunctioned while flying above 45,000 feet near a NASA-operated test site at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave desert.

Operators on the ground lost control of the aircraft during a test flight late Friday morning, said Alan Brown, a spokesman for NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. They watched radar tracking information and live video from an on-board camera as the plane entered a "lazy spiral," and crashed on the highway shortly before noon.

"Fortunately, traffic was light during that time, and it did not cause any damage to property, or injury," Brown said.

The closest vehicles were about a quarter mile from the site where the Perseus crunched, nose-first, into the westbound traffic lanes, Brown said. A semitrailer and a California Highway Patrol cruiser were able to stop in front of the downed Perseus. The officer and the trucker pivoted the 2,200-pound plane out of the way to clear one lane of the road for traffic.

It is not known what caused the malfunction, in which the navigational control system failed and the engine cut off. Most likely it was an electronic problem, Brown said, but controllers are also trying to figure out why the aircraft's parachute did not deploy to slow the plane's fall. NASA is convening an investigation panel to look into the cause of accident.

The Perseus B sustained "remarkably little damage," and is "easily reparable at relatively minor cost," Brown said. One propeller is chipped, a wingtip is broken and the nose will need to be replaced.

The fact that most of the plane's hardware is intact will help developers determine the cause of the wreck, he said.

Dryden is developing the Perseus B and three other planes as low-cost alternatives to satellites and traditional high-altitude aircraft as carriers of scientific payloads. The effort is called the Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program.

One of the planes, a huge solar-powered flying wing, is being designed to remain at altitudes above 60,000 feet for months at a time. The Perseus B has a more modest goal of lofting a 265-pound payload to that altitude for eight hours.

NASA hopes such planes will be used for atmospheric sampling, surface imaging, weather forecasting and, potentially, for telecommunications. The planes would be able to carry scientific payloads at a fraction of the cost of launching the same devices into orbit aboard a satellite.

The Perseus B is being developed by Aurora Flight Sciences of Manassas, Va.