NASA and CalFire have signed an agreement that allows CalFire to use NASA’s remote sensing technology to “cooperatively explore the use and future transfer of advanced fire sensing technology”.
Here is an excerpt from a news release. The entire release follows.
NASA has developed an innovative visible, infrared and thermal sensor called the NASAAutonomous Modular Scanner (AMS). The scanner has operated on both NASA’s IkhanaPredator B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and the manned NASA B200 King Air bothoperated by the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif. The scanner provides real-time wildfire imaging data over large-scale disaster events in the western United States andparticularly in California. The innovations include performing all processing on-board theaircraft autonomously and relaying the information through a satellite communications system todisaster managers located anywhere in the world.
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NASA & CALFIRE Parternership Agreement
Not only is Cal Fire the Worlds largest “all-risk” fire department, but one of the most progressive. It’s (Cal Fire) only problem is that it doesn’t “toot” its horn very often.