REMOTELY PILOTED CRAFT AIDED FIRE FIGHT.Byline: Daily News EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. -- A team led by NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. and U.S. Forest Service scientists provided real-time, visible and infrared data from sensors onboard a remotely piloted aircraft to fire officials fighting the Esperanza Fire in Riverside County. From an altitude of 43,000 feet, the Altair unmanned aircraft collected and sent 100 images and more than 20 data files containing the location of the fire perimeter over a 16-hour period on Oct. 28 and 29. The data were delivered in real time through a satellite communications link. The Esperanza Fire, an arson-set fire that claimed the lives of five firefighters, was ignited on Oct. 26. Whipped by powerful Santa Ana winds Santa Ana Winds may refer to: 1. Santa Ana wind, a local Southern California reference to Föhn winds, a meteorological phenomenon occurring as a layer of wind is forced over a mountain range -- drying the air -- which then passes over the crest and begins to move downslope -- , it spread over 40,200 acres, or roughly 62 square miles, destroying 34 homes and 20 other structures. The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the Esperanza Fire Incident Command Center requested NASA's imaging and fire mapping assistance. The Altair, built and operated by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. in San Diego, was prepared to fly in less than 24 hours. The flight project was sponsored and funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The team consisted of NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in the San Francisco Bay Area “Bay Area” redirects here. For other uses, see Bay Area (disambiguation). The San Francisco Bay Area, colloquially known as the Bay Area or The Bay ; NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. On March 26, 1976 it was named in honor of the late Hugh L. at Edwards; The National Interagency Fire Center The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, is the physical facility that is home to the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC), and the National Multi-Agency Coordination group (NMAC or MAC). in Boise, Idaho.; U.S. Forest Service Remote Sensing Laboratory in Salt Lake City; California Governor's Office of Emergency Services; California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection For other uses of "CDF", see CDF (disambiguation). The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) or CAL FIRE is the State of California's agency responsible for the administration of the state's private and public forests. , Sacramento; and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- 2; 1 color in AV edition only; 2 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) An Altair unmanned aircraft, above, carried an infrared imaging device in its underbelly pod over the Esperanza Fire in late October. At left, an infrared image from an Altair unmanned aircraft shows hot spots from the fire. |
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