Unmanned Aircraft Systems.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Ikhana

Unmanned Aircraft System

Western States Fire Missions

Peter W. Merlin

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA History Ofice

Washington, D.C.

2009

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Merlin, Peter W., 1964-

Ikhana Unmanned Aircraft System : Western States ire missions / by Peter W. Merlin.

p. cm.

“August 2009.”

1. Aeronautics in forest ire control--West (U.S.) 2. Aerial photography in forestry--West (U.S.)

3. Drone aircraft. 4. Predator (Drone aircraft) 5. United States. National Aeronautics and Space

Administration. I. Title.

SD421.43.M47 2009

634.9’6180978--dc22

Contents

iii

Acknowledgements............................................................................................................................. IV

Preface...................................................................................................................................................V

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................VII

Chapter One ...........................................................................................................................................1

Don’t Fear the Reaper

Chapter Two .........................................................................................................................................19

Chariots of Fire

Chapter Three.......................................................................................................................................39

The Fire Down Below

Chapter Four ........................................................................................................................................63

After the Fire

Appendices...........................................................................................................................................73

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................83

Index ...................................................................................................................................................92

NASA History Publications .................................................................................................................94

Acknowledgments

A great many people helped make this book pos-

sible. I am especially indebted to Tony Springer of the

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA

Headquarters for sponsoring this project. Ikhana

project manager Thomas K. Rigney, lead operations

engineer Gregory P. Buoni, project engineer Kathleen

Howell, and project pilots Mark Pestana and Herman

Posada provided support and made numerous help-

ful comments. Vincent G. Ambrosia, senior research

scientist, California State University, Monterey Bay;

Dr. Steven S. Wegener, senior research scientist, Bay

Area Environmental Research Institute; and Dr. Susan

Schoenung, project scientist, NASA Ames Research

Center, made sure my descriptions of the sensor sys-

tems and their development were accurate. Thanks

to Sarah Merlin for copy editing of the manuscript.

I am also grateful to Carla Thomas of the NASA

Dryden Photo Branch for providing scanned images

and to Steve Lighthill for layout and graphic design.

Thanks also to Christian Gelzer for looking over the

manuscript and for other technical assistance. Spe-

cial thanks to the Ikhana team and to the ireighters

who put the technological resources described in this

monograph to good use combating wildires in the

western United States.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: