With its thermal-infared sensor pod under its left wing, NASA's Ikhana unmanned aircraft cruises over California during the Western States Fire Mission.

Carrying its sensor pod, NASA's remotely piloted Ikhana unmanned aircraft banks away during a checkout flight in the Western States Fire Mission.

NASA's Ikhana remotely piloted aircraft soars over smoky terrain during a wildfire imaging demonstration mission in the late summer of 2007.

With its sensor pod under its left wing, NASA's remotely piloted Ikhana unmanned aircraft cruises over California during the Western States Fire Mission.

The instruments that make up the Ames Autonomous Module Scanner (AMS) that provided precise thermal-infrared imaging during the Western States Fire Mission in 2007 are detailed in this photo of the AMS as mounted on Ikhana's pod tray. The large foil-covered foam-insulated box at left covers the pressure vessel containing the data system computers and other electronics. The round white-topped assembly is the scan head, including the scan mirror, folded telescope, blackbody references, spectrometer and detectors. Two pressure boxes visible at the forward end of the tray contain the Applanix POS/AV precision navigation subsystem (black) and the power distributor including circuit breakers and ancillary wiring, scan motor controller and the blackbody reference temperature controller (blue).