From what I have read, the sensors on the WB-57 can "see" into the structure of the terrain. I'm sure the survey detected lots of minerals, but I'm guessing it also identified the locations of every cave that might be used as a Taliban hideout.

It's interesting that the airplane was stripped of its NASA markings, and the registration number was reduced to a mere three inches high.

The NTS is probably a calibration or test site for the sensors given that it has well documented deep tunnels. For every instrument, you need a calibration reference. They probably fly over mines as well to test the gear.

The NTS and TTR have gravity surveys on file done from a much lower altitude. They could be a reference as well.

I would rate sniffing tunnels in Iran to be a likely scenario. But I don't know if the US would violate Iranian airspace. It could be shot down. Flying at 50kft over Afghanistan (somewhat friendly territory) is quite different than flying over Iran (hostile territory). However, the WB-57 could be testing the sensor package, which could then be installed in a Global Hawk. Iran has seen plenty of UFOs in the last few years. (Heh heh) I just don't see manned flight over Iran to be likely, but a UAV? Hey, it's only money. About $50 million for the GH, but the intel could be priceless.

Now let's entertain another scenario for the WB-57. In the past, it has served as BACN during JEFX. Eventually another plane took over this function, but I think proof of concept was done with the WB-57. Now Nellis just did a "Cyber Flag". Maybe the WB-57 was flown for that event.

What i see from the flight tracks of the live flight tracker is training flights with a lot of touch and go training.

This does not look like training for using any sensors on the plane as they likely would use a grid track similar to search and rescue flights.