Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Unmanned craft chart the Antarctic winter

A peaceful application of pilotless aerial vehicles, from Nature: A fleet of unmanned aircraft has successfully swooped around the Antarctic, gathering data from areas that would otherwise have remained uncharted....

In addition to being cheaper to run than manned craft, the AUVs might be the only way to fly over the Antarctic during winter. The BAS uses piloted planes in the Antarctic only during the summer, when light and temperatures are more favourable for flight.

A Predator drone, much more bellicose than the ones in use in Antarctica, from the US Department of Defense, Wikimedia Commons

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