Ikhana, the NASA Predator-B Unmanned Aircraft

Ikhana is a Choctaw word meaning intelligent, conscious or aware. NASA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service partnered to use Ikhana to take pictures of the 2008 California wildfires. The pictures were used to help fight more than 300 wildfires. The Ikhana’s onboard fire sensor can detect temperature differences from less than one-half degree to approximately 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The scanner operates like a digital camera with specialized filters to detect light energy at visible, infrared and thermal wavelengths. > Read More