NASA’s Ikhana took off Wednesday morning from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on a 10-hour mission to observe seven wildfires still raging in the southern part of the state, using an onboard visible and near- and far-IR sensors to collect data, process it into images, and send those via satellite to firefighting command centers in real time.

That means it can see in the dark and cut through a column of smoke 30,000 feet thick as though it wasn’t there. What it reveals are hot spots, flames, and even temperature differences that can mean the difference between fight or flee.

The data is processed on the aircraft, up-linked to a satellite and then downloaded to a ground station. From there it’s delivered to a computer server at NASA Ames. The imagery is then combined with Google Earth maps. Command center personnel can view the images on their computer screens and then delegate local firefighters accordingly.