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September
7, 2007
WILDFIRE IMAGING MISSIONS
CONTINUE ON
NASA'S IKHANA UAV
The third in a series of wildfire imaging
demonstration flights
being conducted by NASA and the U.S. Forest Service is tentatively
scheduled
for Sept. 7-8 from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center.
The flight,
planned for about 20 hours, will take the Ikhana unmanned aircraft and
its
thermal-infrared imaging payload over wildfires burning in central
Washington
and Oregon, as well as in central and southern California.
The flights are part of the Western States Fire Mission, which is
demonstrating
improved wildfire imaging and mapping capabilities of the sophisticated
imaging
sensor and real-time data communications equipment developed at NASA's Ames
Research Center.
The sensor is capable of peering through thick smoke and haze to record
hot
spots and the progression of wildfires over a lengthy period. The data
is
overlaid on Google Earth maps and downlinked in near-real time to the Interagency Fire
Center in Boise,
Idaho,
and made available to fire incident commanders to assist them in
allocating
their fire-fighting resources.
NASA's Ikhana is a Predator B unmanned aircraft system built by General
Atomics
Aeronautical Systems and adapted for environmental science and
technology
research missions. Each flight is being coordinated with the FAA to
allow the
remotely piloted aircraft to fly within the national airspace while
maintaining
separation from other aircraft.
The first flight in the series captured images of California
wildfires, including the huge Zaca Fire in Santa
Barbara
and Ventura
Counties,
while a second 16-hour flight Aug. 30-31 imaged five wildfires burning
in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
For more information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/NewsReleases/2007/07-46.html
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2007/07_62AR.html
##
Contact:
Beth Hagenauer
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Phone: 661/276-7960
beth.hagenauer@nasa.gov
This text is derived from:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/home/index.html
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