NASA Ikhana Assists SoCal Firefighters 60
ackthpt writes "Ikhana (a NASA drone) is primarily designed for suborbital earth sciences missions, but may be fitted out with a variety of sensors. Wednesday, Ikhana took off from Edwards Air Force Base for a 10 hour mission to observe forest fires in California, scanning the terrain from 23-25,000 feet using a variety of sensors for visible and IR light. Able to remain aloft for up to 30 continuous hours Ikhana serves up information in minutes, a process that takes hours when done by manned aircraft observation. 'The data is processed on the aircraft, up-linked to a satellite and then downloaded to a ground station. From there it's delivered to a computer server at NASA Ames. The imagery is then combined with Google Earth maps. Command center personnel can view the images on their computer screens and then delegate local firefighters accordingly.'"
Awesome (Score:5, Insightful)
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I bet within the next 50 years battlefield commanders will have a Command and Conquer style interface letting them observe from above and issue orders in real time across a wide area.
Global Hawk is being used as well (Score:5, Informative)
Hot technology (Score:3, Funny)
Hint (Score:2)
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(public perception of) Re:Suborbital? (Score:3)
-theGreater.
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NASA is known for sending shit into space. Of course they're going to be that specific about this drone.
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Toodling about a few miles up for a half-day doesn't really seem to fit it.
also, find sarah connor (Score:2)
So, when do we get a NASA drone that will terminate forest fires in California?
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Then forest fires would be fun to put out! Like playing a game of Supreme Commander.
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Flying unmanned is harder than sitting in the seat. Among other things, you can't feel the aircraft moving around(wind gusts), and you can't hear the change in engine sounds, and your vision is limited to what is on the monitor.
These aircraft are big. C-130 and DC-10. I don't think space to take a pee is an issue.
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I blame the design of the system for that fault. The plane should know if the input it is getting will make it crash. The pilot station and engine also should not shutdown mid-flight. [flightglobal.com] The Predators keep crashing and they keep blaming the pilots. At some point, the pilot is no lon
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Not as good as they make it out to be (Score:4, Interesting)
Now? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Now? (Score:5, Informative)
I think that particular plane is a NASA research asset, not part of some standard emergency response plan, and was not presumed to be deployed for that particular situation at all.
Maybe not maximum benefit, but I imagine the thermal sensors could be very valuable on Wednesday for places where it was not easy to tell visually where exactly fires were.
Larry
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Weather satellites orbit at over 22000 miles away. UAVs can fly at an altitude closer to 22000 feet (or less). They can see things in much greater detail than satellites in geostationary orbit.
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Anyways, the question isn't whether UAVs can provide more detail than satellites, but rather, whether firefighting requires more detail than existing satellite imagery can provide. (It's not as if you want 1m resolution for firefighting). Apparently there is some extra value in the UAV data, I'm just curious what it is.
Why does it look like the Predator-B? (Score:1)
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Re:Why does it look like the Predator-B? (Score:5, Informative)
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i wonder, can this thing deal with bad weather? as in ocean storms and massive icing?
if so it could potentially be used for search and rescue out at sea, and i would guess that 5-6 of these are cheaper then 5-6 rescue helicopters.
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The same company has something specifically for maritime surveillance.
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can it find a single person in heavy seas?
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NASA waste (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, wait...
ditto (Score:2)
The article is clearly someone trying to justify their living off the public dole.
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Oh, wait...
Flight track @ FlightAware (Score:5, Informative)
Here is a Predator at Edwards, Ikhana or not? (Score:3, Interesting)
I've started at image for two days, but where's Waldo (pepper)?
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data delivery (Score:2, Interesting)
quote "... for a 10 hour mission to observe forest fires in California, scanning the terrain from 23-25,000 feet using a variety of sensors for visible and IR light. Able to remain aloft for up to 30 continuous hours
So what did it do for the remaining 20 hours? A beer run?
Displaced SoCal citizens could have used that data, we could still use it today (Saturday).
The good news is that the data wasn't entirely restricted to emergency personnel- you and I can see some of the GISified fire data here (pdf):
h [sdcountyemergency.com]
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It wasn't aloft for thirty hours, it was aloft for ten. It is "capable of remaining aloft for thirty hours" not it "was aloft for thirty hours". Reading comprehension FTW.
Eucalyptus in California, Australian bushfires (Score:2)
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Get it? rectum, fire.
ha ha ha!