Hurricane spotting drone spots its first hurricane

Tags: Innovations

Military grade drones are now being used by the NASA in the United States as storm watchers. Last week, one of these drones managed to identify that a tropical storm was in fact a hurricane. With capabilities to stay airborne for 24 hour, the drone is capable of examining in detail the development of a tropical storm, without the significant risk of using manned crews. The drone drops devices named dropsondes, which capture crucial metrological data and transmit it in real time to a satellite. In this case, the drone was able to provide a much clearer picture of the storm then conventional methods, which helped them identify accurately the status of the storm.

Source: popsci.com