NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Image above: Thermal-infrared imaging sensors on NASA's Ikhana unmanned research aircraft recorded this image of the Harris Fire in San Diego County Wednesday, Oct. 24, with hot spots along the ridgeline in left center clearly visible. (NASA Photo)

NASA's Ikhana unmanned aircraft system flew a final mission over several of the major Southern California wildfires again on Sunday, Oct. 28, capturing thermal-infrared imagery to aid firefighters battling the remaining uncontrolled blazes. Extensive cloud cover that interferes with the infrared sensor's imaging capability forced flights on Saturday and Monday to be scrubbed.

Ikhana, a General Atomics' Predator B adapted for civil science and technology research missions, has been flying long-endurance sorties lasting nine to 10 hours each beginning Oct. 24 from its base at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base.

The flights took Ikhana over the major blazes in the in the San Bernardino National Forest - the Slide and Grass Valley fires near Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs; the Ammo fire on Camp Pendleton Marine Base along the coast; and the Witch, Poomacha, McCoy and Harris fires in San Diego County. Ikhana also imaged the Santiago Fire in the Cleveland National Forest in Orange County on Friday, Oct. 26.

Ikhana carried the Autonomous Modular Scanner payload developed by NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. The equipment incorporates a sophisticated imaging sensor and real-time data communications equipment. 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 downlinked to NASA Ames where is it overlaid on Google Earth maps, then transmitted 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.

The flights were in response to a request for assistance from the California Office of Emergency Services and the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), and were coordinated with the FAA to avoid conflict with other aircraft flying in the same areas. The Ikhana flights during the daytime were complemented by nighttime imaging flights by the NIFC's Cessna Citation and an Air Force Global Hawk that are equipped with earlier-generation infrared cameras.

Pilots in a ground control station at NASA Dryden controlled the flights via satellite communications links. The missions were flown at altitudes of about 22,000 to 23,000 feet, as authorized by the FAA.

The Ikhana imaging flights were a real-world wrap-up of the Western States Fire Mission, in which NASA flew a series of four long-endurance demonstration flights of the imaging technology in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service in August and September. Those flights, some as along as 20 hours, were funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate, which also supported the current effort. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also helped fund the recent wildfire imaging flights.

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	The flight plan for the Ikhana UAV Wildfire Imaging Mission on Friday Oct. 26 is prominently displayed in the San Diego Emergency Operations Center's Situation Room. The flight plan overlaid on a Google Earth map of the fire area is active on the left-hand screen, with other data layers, including imagery from Ikhana, displayed on other screens. + View Larger Image
	Grass Valley-Slide Fire 3D view 10-25.jpg: Thermal-infrared imaging sensors on NASA's Ikhana unmanned research aircraft recorded this image of the Grass Valley / Slide Fire near Lake Arrowhead / Running Springs in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California just before noon Oct. 25. The 3-D processed image is a colorized mosaic of images draped over terrain, looking east. Active fire is seen in yellow, while hot, previously burned areas are in shades of dark red and purple. Unburned areas are shown in green hues. + View Larger Image
	Harris Fire 3D view 10-25.jpg: Thermal-infrared imaging sensors on NASA's Ikhana unmanned research aircraft acquired this image at 2:24 p.m. PDT Oct. 25 over the Harris Fire in San Diego County in Southern California. The colorized image is a mosaic of images looking south, draped over the terrain and shown in 3D. The active wildfire fronts are in yellow and red, while hot, previously burned areas are in shades of dark red and purple. Unburned areas are shown in green hues. + View Larger Image
	Harris Fire Infrared Image Thermal-infrared imaging sensors on NASA's Ikhana unmanned research aircraft recorded this image of the Harris Fire in San Diego County Wednesday, Oct. 24, with hot spots along the ridgeline in left center clearly visible. + View Larger Image
	ED07-0243-37: With smoke from the Lake Arrowhead area fires streaming in the background, NASA's Ikhana unmanned aircraft heads out on a Southern California wildfires imaging mission. NASA Photo: Jim Ross + View Larger Image
	ED07-0243-36: With smoke from the Lake Arrowhead area fires streaming in the background, NASA's Ikhana unmanned aircraft heads out on a Southern California wildfires imaging mission. NASA Photo: Jim Ross + View Larger Image

	Photo # ED07-0243-03: NASA Ames engineer Ted Hildum checks out the thermal-infrared scanner computer before it is loaded on NASA's Ikhana unmanned aircraft. + View Larger Image
	Photo # ED07-0243-08: NASA Ames engineers Sally Buechel and Ted Hildum prepare to load the Autonomous Modular Scanner into the Ikhana unmanned aircraft's payload pod. + View Larger Image
	Photo # ED07-0243-14: NASA Dryden's Ikhana ground crewmen Gus Carreno and James Smith load the thermal-infrared imaging scanner pallet into the Ikhana's underwing payload pod. + View Larger Image
	Photo # ED07-0243-18: NASA research pilot Mark Pestana flies the Ikhana unmanned aircraft remotely from the ground control station at NASA Dryden. + View Larger Image
	Photo # ED07-0243-19: NASA Dryden engineer Kathleen Howell and Ikhana project manager Brent Cobleigh check the flight paths in Ikhana's ground control station before takeoff. + View Larger Image