Hardly on the Earth there is a more inhospitable place than the Antarctic. Well, except that the depths of the sea or lava lakes, but I have to say: of all the places where a person can technically survive, Antarctica — the most severe.
Research station McMurdo — the civilian project with military technologies. Special units of the coast guard operate as part of operation Deep Freeze, deliver to the station supply. This year the coast guard began to use the drones as scouts for their icebreakers.
Representatives of the drone manufacturer AeroVironment to report that the last mission for the delivery of goods, sent from Tasmania on 30 December 2015 and arrived at McMurdo on January 18, was the first who used drones in the Ross sea. Using drones instead of manned aviation has allowed at least not to endanger the lives of pilots.
The team used a run from the hands of the Puma AE drone, weighing a little over 6 pounds and can fly at 210 minutes at a distance of 14.5 km. The drone is capable of transmitting video in real time, including infrared cameras, and is able to land on a hard surface, or on water. Thus, even if he gets lost at sea, will be able to find it.
According to the materials of Popular Science