Navigation Links
Unmanned aerial vehicles mark robotic first for British Antarctic Survey
Date:3/18/2008

Scientists at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in collaboration with the Technical University of Braunschweig (TUBS), Germany have completed the first ever series of flights by autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Antarctica. This is the first time that unpiloted UAVs have been used in the Antarctic and the successful flights open up a major new technique for gathering scientific data in the harshest and remotest environment on Earth.

Dr Phil Anderson of BAS says, This is a huge technological achievement for BAS and TUBS. Apart from take-off and landing, when the UAVs are controlled by radio, the aircraft are completely autonomous, flying on their own according to a pre-programmed flight plan. Each flight lasts for 40 minutes, covering around 45 km and taking 100 measurements a second, so waiting for the UAV to return safely after its research mission was very exciting. Seeing the first UAV come back successfully was a real heart-in-the-mouth moment.

Following trials during the austral winter of 2007, the UAVs successfully completed 20 flights between October and December 2007, including four over the Weddell Sea. They were fitted with instruments to record the exchange of heat between the lower atmosphere and sea ice. During the Antarctic winter, the Weddell Sea freezes, and because of its bright white colour, the ice reflects heat and helps to cool the planet. However, sea ice is a major unknown feedback mechanism in the Earths climate system and scientists need to discover more about it and its sensitivity to climate change.

Using UAVs to gather this kind of data is a major step forward, allowing scientists to study areas that are too costly to reach using ships or conventional aircraft. According to Anderson, UAVs allow scientists to reach the parts others cannot reach the future of much atmospheric research will be robotic.

Despite the enormous physical and technical challenges BASs UAV team had to overcome not
'/>"/>

Contact: Athena Dinar
a.dinar@bas.ac.uk
44-012-232-21414
British Antarctic Survey
Source:Eurekalert

0

GOOD

Page: 1 2

Related biology news :

1. NOAA invests $3 million for unmanned aircraft system testing
2. RAND paper finds diesel, hybrid vehicles can provide more societal benefits than gas-powered autos
3. Surprising discovery from first large-scale analysis of biodiversity and biogeography of viruses
4. The Lancet publishes first clinical trial data of a fully bioabsorbable drug eluting stent
5. NHLBI issues first US von Willebrand Disease clinical practice guidelines
6. Iowa State researchers help piece together the corn genomes first draft
7. First wind turbines on Galapagos Islands will halve diesel imports, reduce risk of future oil spills
8. Map is first to track global human influences on ocean ecosystems
9. First map of threats to marine ecosystems shows all the worlds oceans are affected
10. First datasets for national biomass and carbon dataset now available
11. Stanford researchers make first direct observation of 3-D molecule folding in real time

Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
(Date:11/24/2009)...een prescribed by traditional healers in Brazil to...ach pain to fever and flu. , Now for the first ti...able to scientifically prove the pain relieving pr...razilian mint. , Testing this ancient South Ameri...ela Rocha was able to show that when prepared as a...
(Date:11/24/2009)...oors to understanding how sounds associated with N...mal or if they hear it at all. , The same type ... uses to detect flaws in the space shuttle,s behem...to peek inside the giant head of a whale. The scan...s of a whale,s hearing anatomy using a breakthroug...
(Date:11/24/2009)...labby arteries from collapsing have been true life... longer needed -- once the arteries are strengthen...ad no choice but to leave them in place. , Prof....ent of Biomedical Engineering has developed a new ...here they,re needed, then dissolves. , "Our new ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Got a pain? -- Have a cup of Brazilian mint 2Rocket science leads to new whale discovery 2A coating for life 2Phosphorus Levels May Predict Heart Disease 60795 1Phosphorus Levels May Predict Heart Disease 60795 2Lumenis Announces the Initiation of a Clinical Study into the Efficacy of Selective Retina Therapy 28SRT 29 in Diabetic Macular Edema 28DME 29 60791 1Lumenis Announces the Initiation of a Clinical Study into the Efficacy of Selective Retina Therapy 28SRT 29 in Diabetic Macular Edema 28DME 29 60791 2Lumenis Announces the Initiation of a Clinical Study into the Efficacy of Selective Retina Therapy 28SRT 29 in Diabetic Macular Edema 28DME 29 60791 3Lumenis Announces the Initiation of a Clinical Study into the Efficacy of Selective Retina Therapy 28SRT 29 in Diabetic Macular Edema 28DME 29 60791 4Lumenis Announces the Initiation of a Clinical Study into the Efficacy of Selective Retina Therapy 28SRT 29 in Diabetic Macular Edema 28DME 29 60791 5Lumenis Announces the Initiation of a Clinical Study into the Efficacy of Selective Retina Therapy 28SRT 29 in Diabetic Macular Edema 28DME 29 60791 6Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 1Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 2Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 3Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 4Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 5Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 6Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 7Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 8Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 9Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 10Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 11Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 12Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 13Volcano Reports 22 Percent Increase in Third Quarter Revenues 60786 14
...ant to catch a trophy northern pike, walleye or br...ter plan your trip soon. Thats because according ...ation Society, looming development, including fore...pristine region of untouched forests, wetlands, la...so say that that there is still time for governmen...
...s Consortium say they are absolutely delighted by ... to host a new 1billion national institute to deve...s comprised of the universities of Birmingham, Lou...rs, all with extensive and complementary energy re...port has been provided, in a unique cross-border a...
...alth Care through Bio and Information Standards an...he role technology and technical standards can pla...costs. , WHY ATTEND: To learn where technology in...ality, wellness and disease prevention, while mini...a.m. to 5:30 p.m. , WHERE: National Institute of...
Other Biology News:Canada's pristine freshwater fisheries at risk 2Canada's pristine freshwater fisheries at risk 3Midlands Consortium delighted to be chosen to host £1 billion energy institute 2Midlands Consortium delighted to be chosen to host £1 billion energy institute 3
(Date:11/24/2009)...y approved the Promega PowerPlex 16 HS System for ... DNA records for the National DNA Index System. ,...- The FBI recently approved the Promega PowerPlex...ipating in, or generating DNA records for, the Nat...ains more than seven million profiles and has assi...
(Date:11/24/2009)...irstCall/--ArenaPharmaceuticals,Inc.(Nasdaq: ARNA ...tatthePiperJaffray21stAnnualHealthCareConferenceon...icTime)attheNewYorkPalaceHotelinNewYorkCity.JackLi...heduledtoprovideanoverviewofthecompany,includingit...iveaudiowebcastofthepresentationwillbeavailableund...
(Date:11/24/2009)...cts Service (CAS), the global expert on chemical i...now the world,s leading producer of patent inventi...s patent office, the World Intellectual Property O...nd Trademark Office (USPTO) for more than a decade...exceeded Japan for the first time on a monthly bas...
(Date:11/23/2009)...ommunication, computation and more powerful ways t... quantum states as carriers of information is an e...e shown, mathematically, how to gently tease out u...ing the information intact. Their work is reported... and highlighted with a Viewpoint in Physics ( h...
Breaking Biology Technology:NDIS Approval of Promega PowerPlex Kit Clears Path for More DNA Profiles to be Added to U.S. Database 2Arena Pharmaceuticals to Present at the Piper Jaffray 21st Annual Health Care Conference 2China Leads All Nations in Publication of Chemical Patents According to CAS, the World's Most Authoritative Publisher of Chemical Information 2China Leads All Nations in Publication of Chemical Patents According to CAS, the World's Most Authoritative Publisher of Chemical Information 3
... , For purification of up to 10 mg ultrapure... Classic QIAGEN Plasmid Kits use gravity-flow anio...n of plasmid DNA , , , ,... , , Purity equival...ation , , Reprod...
..., , Ni-NTA Superflow Columns enable up to 2...ein preparations to be performed in parallel on th...d lysates from bacterial cultures as starting mate...be purified under native or denaturing , co...e in yield means that , more experiments ca...
..., , Stefanie Schrer, Werner Wittke,* and ,...lden, Germany , , * Leica Microsyst..., Laser microdissection (LMD) provides a powe... or cell groups for further analysis. , Thi...ty within tissue samples , by providing hom...
Other Biology Technology:Ni-NTA Superflow Columns - automated large-scale purification of 6xHis-tagged , proteins 2Ni-NTA Superflow Columns - automated large-scale purification of 6xHis-tagged , proteins 3Ni-NTA Superflow Columns - automated large-scale purification of 6xHis-tagged , proteins 4Laser microdissection and nucleic acid purification - a Leica - QIAGEN , cooperation 2Laser microdissection and nucleic acid purification - a Leica - QIAGEN , cooperation 3Laser microdissection and nucleic acid purification - a Leica - QIAGEN , cooperation 4
Rabbit Anti-Human TRIB1 / SKIP1 / Tribbles 1 Polyclonal Antibody, Unconjugated from IMGENEX
Mouse Anti-Pim-1 Monoclonal Antibody, Unconjugated, Clone 12H8 from Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc.
Rabbit Anti-Human Ets-1 Antibody, Unconjugated from Spring Bioscience
Mouse Anti-Desmoglein 1 Monoclonal Antibody, Unconjugated, Clone 3G131 from Abcam
Biology Products: