NASA Aircraft Aiding Southern California Firefighting EffortRelease: 07-57 In response to a request from the California Office of Emergency Services and the National Interagency Fire Center, NASA is flying an aircraft equipped with sophisticated infrared imaging equipment today to assist firefighters battling several of the Southern California wildfires. The Ikhana unmanned aircraft system, a Predator B modified for civil science and research missions, was launched about 8:45 a.m. PDT from its base at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. It is expected to fly over the major blazes burning in the Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs areas and possibly down into San Diego County to image wildfires raging in that area. The aircraft is controlled remotely by pilots in a ground control station at NASA Dryden. The Ikhana is carrying the Autonomous Modular Scanner, a thermal-infrared imaging system developed at NASA's Ames Research Center in Northern California. The system is capable 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 aid fire incident commanders in allocating their firefighting resources...Read more Photo Description: With smoke from the Lake Arrowhead, CA area fires streaming in the background, NASA's Ikhana unmanned aircraft heads out on a wildfire imaging mission. October 24, 2007 NASA Photo / Jim Ross ED07-0243-37
