NASA Drone Supports Wildland Fire Technology Demonstration

Justin Link, left, pilot for small uncrewed aircraft systems, and Justin Hall, chief pilot for small uncrewed aircraft systems, install weather instruments on NASA’s Alta X drone at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Members of the center’s Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory used the Alta X to support the agency’s FireSense project in March 2025 for a prescribed burn in Geneva State Forest, which is about 100 miles south of Montgomery, Alabama.

Justin Link, left, pilot for small uncrewed aircraft systems, and Justin Hall, chief pilot for small uncrewed aircraft systems, install weather instruments on NASA’s Alta X drone at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Members of the center’s Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory used the Alta X to support the agency’s FireSense project in March 2025 for a prescribed burn in Geneva State Forest, which is about 100 miles south of Montgomery, Alabama.

Photographer NASA/Steve Freeman
Location AFRC