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| By NASA |
| Ikhana being preflighted in front of a NASA hanger on the flightline at Edwards Air Force Base. |
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| By NASA |
| Ikhana in flight. |
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| By NASA |
| Aerial image of Santa Barbara, Yellow color indicates active fire area. |
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| By NASA |
| An aerial image of the American River Fire Complex in Placer County, Calif. Yellow color indicates active fire area. |
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| By NASA |
| New actively burning areas are seen in yellow from above the American River Fire Complex in Placer County, California. Known fire perimeters are indicated in orange, red and green. |
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Once again, NASA has piloted a remotely controlled aircraft, known as Ikhana, over much of California this past week, gathering information that has been used to help fight more than 300 wildfires burning within the state. Additional flights are planned for next week.
The flights by NASA's unmanned Ikhana aircraft, are originating from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, which is located at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Equipped with a sophisticated Autonomous Modular Scanner, developed at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, Ikhana's onboard sensor can detect temperature differences from less than one-half degree to approximately 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The scanner operates much like a digital camera with specialized filters to detect light energy at visible, infrared and thermal wavelengths.
NASA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service have
partnered to obtain imagery of the wildfires in response to requests
from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the National
Interagency Fire Center.
"NASA's emergency imaging gives us immediate information that we can
use to manage fires, identify threats and deploy firefighting
assets," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said. "I thank NASA
for providing us with this important firefighting tool that will help
us maximize attacks on the more than 300 active fires currently
burning in California."
According to NASA officials, the Ikhana aircraft is imaging almost 4,000 square miles from Santa Barbara north to the Oregon border. The flights, which provide critical information about the location, size and terrain around the fires to commanders in the field, can be downloaded in as little as 10 minutes.
Ikhana’s first mission, on July 8, called for a flight path over 10 individual and complex fires along a route over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, west to the Cub Complex fire and south to the Gap Fire in Santa Barbara County.
Once fire images are collected onboard Ikhana, they are transmitted through a
communications satellite to NASA Ames. There, the imagery is
superimposed over Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth maps to
better visualize the location and scope of the fires. The imagery is
then transmitted to the Multi-Agency Coordination Center in Redding,
California, and the State Operations Center in Sacramento, which
distribute fire data to incident commanders in the field.
The transmitted images contain a wealth of information for incident commanders. Active fire, terrain, road locations, vegetation types, burned areas and fire perimeters are all easily identified.
"Because Forest Service assets are stretched thin, NASA was asked to
provide additional resources as a supplement to existing infrared
fire imaging operations," said Jim Brass, co-principal investigator
for the Western States Fire Mission at Ames.
From a ground control center, NASA pilots are flying the aircraft in
close coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is
allowing flights within the national airspace while maintaining safe
separation from other aircraft. The FAA is allowing NASA
unprecedented flexibility to fly these missions in support of the
California firefighting effort.
NASA was working with the Forest Service on a demonstration mission, scheduled for later this summer, but moved the schedule up in response to the
widespread fires. "The NASA/Forest Service team gathered six weeks earlier than planned because of the extreme fires in Northern California," said Vincent Ambrosia, NASA Ames' principal investigator for the fire mission.
"The team will provide state and federal agencies with critical fire
intelligence by using NASA aircraft and technology."
The system was proven during a series of wildfire imaging demonstration missions in August and September 2007 and tested operationally during the Southern California fires of October 2007. NASA's Applied Sciences and Airborne Science programs and the Earth Science Technology Office funded development of the fire sensor. In the hands of operational agencies, the benefits of this NASA research and development effort can support nationwide wildfire fighting efforts.
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