NASA and U.S. Dept. of Agriculture – Forest Service (USDA FS) Fire Mission
Briefing on Kickoff Meeting in Palmdale, CA at the NASA Aero Building
May 2, 2006
Reported by James W. Elkins
Phone: (303) 497-6224, E-mail:James.W.Elkins@noaa.gov
- Purpose of NASA-USDA FS Fire mission is a UAS trial mission to remotely sense active forest fires from high altitude and locate hot spots for fire fighters to extinguish on the ground. There will be four 20-hour flights in the western United States during the peak of fire season. The area is a donut shaped area that excludes restricted areas in Nevada and Utah. Flight area includes California-Oregon-Washington states as far east as western Colorado between the Canadian and Mexican borders. NASA Fire multi-band infrared remote sensors will be placed in a pod under the fuselage. The pod is being constructed by General Atomics and will be finished in 2-3 weeks. Cruising altitude of UAS Altair will be 43,000 ft., altitude after takeoff and before landing will be no lower than 18,000 ft.
- NOAA will provide Fire mission with prior UAS experience and sampling of fire plumes for fire generated trace gases (H2O, O3, CO, CH4, N2O) where possible.
- NOAA/ESRL/GMD UCATS instrument will provide the following:
- Ambient air temperature (-70 C – 180 C) to 0.1 C accuracy and relative humidity measurements (0-100%) once every 8 sec using Vaisala series HMT 337 probe.
- Tropospheric (0-200 ppb) and stratospheric ozone (O3) measurements (>200 ppb -10 ppm) once every 10 seconds using 2B, Inc Ozone photometer.
- Atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) once every 70 seconds using custom gas chromatograph (GC) with electron capture detection (ECD).
- Atmospheric hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), and carbon monoxide (CO) measurement once every 140 seconds using custom GC-ECD.
- NOAA/ESRL/GMD goals for mission:
- Test new temperature/relative humidity probe, new tunable diode laser spectrometer for water vapor, and new H2, CH4, CO GC-ECD channel.
- Continue interagency cooperation with NASA and US Forest Service started with the 2005 NOAA UAS demonstration.
- If plane operates in forest fire plumes, NOAA will measure biomass burning trace gases, including H2O, O3, CO, CH4, N2O.
- Observe troposphere-stratosphere exchanges events when possible.
- Observe man-made tropospheric pollution from cities (SF6, CO, and O3).
- Validate the instruments on the NASA Aura satellite for H2O, O3, N2O, CH4, and N2O.
- When in the stratosphere, use SF6 observations to determine the age of the air.
- REVEAL (NASA DFRC) will provide data link for UCATS instrument, ground presence of Altair aircraft, and prior UAS experience to mission. Total bandwidth is 9600 baud (4 times more than the NOAA UAS demo).
- Argus instrument from NASA ARC will provide CO measurements at 0.5 Hz for only 8 hours during the flight.
- UCATS, Argus, and REVEAL are piggybacking on this mission on a not to interfere basis.
More Details:
- First instrument integration begins June 12.
- First test flight begins July 24.
- Mission begins August 14 and ends August 31. GA contract till the end of Sept.
- Only large and long endurance fires will be flown over, because the COA requires 72-hour notice to the FAA. Added nadir flight camera, no digital camera, and no skyball with EO/IR camera.
- Logistics: No weekend flights, tight tool control, labs in hangar, internet provided for E-mail, web browsing, and small file transfers, and prior permission required for photography at GA Gray Butte facility. NASA investigating separate high-speed internet service.
Attendees: Greg Buoni (DFRC), Maria Caballero (DFRC), Mike Cooper (GA-ASI), Ken Cross (AS&M, Frank Cutler (DFRC), Rose Dominguez (UCSC), Kent Dunwoody (UCSC), Jim Elkins (NOAA), Larry Freudinger, Gil Gagne (GA-ASI), Matt Graham (DFRC), Jeff Grose (ARC), Beth Hagenauer (DFRC Public Affairs), Everett Hinkley (USDA-FS), Chris Jennison (DFRC), Jimena Lopez (ARC), Charles McKee (DFRC), Jeff Myers (ARC), Robert Navarro (DFRC), Ryan Ogle (GA-ASI), Herman Posada (DFRC), Susan Schoenung (ARC), Don Sullivan (ARC), Trent Theriault (DFRC), Steve Wegener (ARC), Michael Young (DFRC)
ARC-NASA Ames Research Center
DFRC-NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
GA-ASI General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
UCSC-University of California Santa Cruz
|
|
