RELEASE: 07-58
NASA Aircraft Aiding Southern California Firefighting Effort
EDWARDSAIR FORCE BASE – In response to a request from the California Office ofEmergency Services and the National Interagency Fire Center, NASA isflying an aircraft equipped with sophisticated infrared imagingequipment today to assist firefighters battling several of the SouthernCalifornia wildfires.
The Ikhana unmanned aircraft system, aPredator B modified for civil science and research missions, waslaunched about 8:45 a.m. PDT from its base at NASA's Dryden FlightResearch Center at Edwards Air Force Base. It is expected to fly overthe major blazes burning in the Lake Arrowhead and Running Springsareas and possibly down into San Diego County to image wildfires ragingin that area. The aircraft is controlled remotely by pilots in a groundcontrol station at NASA Dryden.
The Ikhana is carrying theAutonomous Modular Scanner, a thermal-infrared imaging system developedat NASA's Ames Research Center in Northern California. The system iscapable of peering through heavy smoke and darkness to see hot spots,flames and temperature differences, processing the imagery on-board,and then transmitting that information in near real time so it can aidfire incident commanders in allocating their firefighting resources.
The images are transmitted through a communications satellite to NASAAmes where the imagery is placed on an Ames Web site, combined withGoogle Earth maps, and then transmitted to the interagency fire centerin Boise, Idaho, where it is then made available to incident commandersin the field.
The system was validated recently during a seriesof wildfire imaging demonstration missions conducted by NASA and theU.S. Forest Service in August and September.
Mission managersindicated a second imaging flight may occur on Thursday, Oct. 25, aswell. Each flight is being coordinated with the FAA to allow theremotely piloted aircraft to fly within the national airspace whilemaintaining separation from other aircraft.
Also, a NASAsatellite has captured remarkable imagery of the wildfires. To view anddownload images and for additional information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/socal_wildfires_oct07.html
For additional images and more information about the wildfire imaging flight please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/home/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/newsphotos/index.html
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