April 22, 2016

As the edge burn smokes in the background, the drone's payload is loaded onto the drone for a flight into the center of the fire area. Controlled burn at the Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, NE. Sebastian Elbaum and Carrick Detweiler have engineered a drone able to light controlled prairie burns using balls dropped from the sky. The drone injects a liquid into the plastic spheres to start a delayed fiery process so the balls can fall to the ground before igniting. Elbaum and Detweiler are Professors of computer science and engineering. Twidwell is an assistant professor and range land ecologist in the school of natural resources. April 22, 2015. Photo by Craig Chandler / University Communications