Drones are basically tiny airplanes that are unmanned and controlled remotely. According to techtarget.com, the defintion of a drone is an unmanned aircraft. Drones are more formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or unmanned aircraft systems.
Drone Types/Uses
There are two main types of drone platforms: rotor, including single-rotor and multi-rotor, such as tricopters, quadcopters, hexacopters and octocoptors; and fixed-wing, which include the hybrid vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drones that don't require runways.Nonmilitary drones are generally either personal and hobbyist ones or commercial aircraft. UAVs were most often associated with the military. They were initially used for anti-aircraft target practice, intelligence gathering and, more controversially, as weapons platforms. Drones are now also used in a range of civilian roles such as search and rescue, surveillance, traffic monitoring, weather monitoring, firefighting, personal use, drone-based photography, videography, agriculture, and delivery services. Even the FBI uses dones for surveillance and countersurveillance in order to evade or impede law enforcement. However, they have also observed the use of UAS to harass and disrupt law enforcement operations. The FBI is concerned that criminals and terrorists will exploit UAS in ways that pose a serious threat to the safety of the American people. The UAS threat could take a number of forms, including illicit surveillance, chemical/biological/radiological attacks, traditional kinetic attacks on large open air venues (concerts, ceremonies, and sporting events), or attacks against government facilities, installations and personnel. Sadly, these threats are not merely hypothetical. The FBI is concerned that these deadly tactics—perfected overseas—will be performed in the homeland. That threat could manifest itself imminently.
🛰️ Drones in Space
Can drones fly to space? While it may seem crazy, it is actually very possible for a drone to record earth from space, however it needs a little assistance which in this case comes in the form of a weather balloon. A weather balloon allows a drone to get to the incredibly high altitude required in order to be able to see the circumference of planet earth. Once the weather balloon reaches a certain point, the balloon will pop, resulting in the drone falling back to earth. As long as you have a long range control system, and enough battery in your drone you should be able to glide it back to earth. The NASA Kennedy Space Center has revealed to the public that they are working on ways to train drones and robots on missions where rovers cannot reach, and drones will take on their role. So yes hypothetically drones CAN go to space, but the biggest problem is that drones on Earth can’t be used the same way they do in space, because they don’t have the ability to push air, which creates a thrust, which is also the 3rd Newton’s Law. Physics 😍