The
UASP-Kit Development Team from NASA's Human Systems Integration Division, was honored with an "Honorable Mention" for the
2023 ARMD Associate Administrator (AA) Award for Technology and Innovation. In collaboration with the
U.S. Forest Service, NASA has been working to develop new tools and technologies to improve the efficiency and timeliness of our response, mitigation, and recovery from natural disasters, such as wildfires. One of the outcomes of this work, the Unmanned Aircraft System Pilot Kit (UASP-Kit), was Initially conceived through work under the
Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations (STEReO) project. Leveraging NASA expertise in air traffic management, autonomy, and human factors, tools like the UASP-Kit will ultimately save lives and help minimize cost to taxpayers.
As wildfires continue to be a national challenge, the UASP-Kit Development Team has positioned the ARMD and NASA for a successful partnership in pursuit of what the U.S.Forest Service calls "technology-enhanced operations". The UASP-kit represents a significant step towards increasing trust among the rest of the aerial firefighting community and enabling approval of potentially game-changing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operations.
NASA's
Associate Administrator Awards are presented to individuals and groups within the agency who contribute to
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate activities and who demonstrate exemplary performance in one of six award categories. The Awards are presented to NASA employees, contractors and students or interns who distinguish themselves, either individually or as part of a group, through their overall approach to their work and through results they achieved during the award year. Their accomplishments demonstrate a profound positive impact and benefit to NASA, the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, its partners and/or stakeholders.
