When many think of drones, they think of their advantage on the battlefield; but San Diego Fire Captain Mike Mohler says, “Anytime we have an aerial view for the incident commander it helps us make operational decisions.”

These drones can fly well above fifteen thousand feet and have a two mile operational radius. Firefighters are excited about this new use for aerial drones; they not only allow firefighters to do their job more safely but can also help prevent casualties and destruction.

The biggest benefit of an aerial drone is the ability to assist the firefighters with recognizing the rate of speed of the flames and its ability to tell firefighters if the flames may spread to other neighboring communities.

While most may think the operation of these aerial drones are complex, many will be surprised to find out that the operation of these drones are fairly simple and can be flown from a touchscreen tablet.

The Mars rover, Curiosity, landed on the planet Mars on August 6th, 2012. Curiosity has had the chance to execute many experiments and test many theories that NASA scientists have had about this mysterious planet.

On Wednesday, February 20th 2013, Curiosity became the first land rover to drill two and a half inches into the bedrock of Mars and reported some shocking results. When most individuals think of the Mars, they think of an orange dusty uninhabitable planet; but Curiosity’s samples uncovered a grey sediment just below the planet’s orange exterior.

NASA scientists have many theories for the orange outer layer of the planet. One NASA scientist believes the orange coloring comes from a rusting process that oxidizes the iron in the bedrock.

While further test must be done to prove this theory, another highly accepted theory is that the bedrock could have once been underwater.

On Wednesday – NewsChannel 3 will be in Richmond to get answers about VDOT’s response to our crumbling roads.

NewsChannel 3′s Laurie Simmons has a preview.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board will meet this morning at 10 a.m.

Members include the Secretary of Transportation and the VDOT Commissioner.

NewsChannel 3 Investigator Laurie Simmons will be asking them about the potholes on Interstate 264 – and if VDOT plans to foot the bill for the cars that were damaged when they struck potholes.

Look for her report today on NewsChannel 3, starting First at Four.