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Remote Operated Aircraft Targets Hurricanes

burnin1965 writes "Usually news articles about remote operated UAVs involve blowing people up. NASA's application takes a different path and uses the utility of the aircraft for scientific research that will benefit humanity. I haven't read much about NASA's Global Hawk lately, but they have been busy providing up-close access to the recent string of hurricanes."

56 comments

  1. "NASA's application will benefit humanity" by MokuMokuRyoushi · · Score: 1

    Finally?

    --
    Humans are terrible replicators of Godly things.
    1. Re:"NASA's application will benefit humanity" by MoonBuggy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Freeze dried ice cream and the dust buster; how can you say that's not benefit enough?

  2. Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now we'll have HAL on Earth. Yay.

  3. Just Wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just wait until Stuxnet infects these things ..

  4. UAVs are not normally used to 'blow people up' by bball99 · · Score: 0, Troll

    fucktard! they are used for surveillance, firefighting, search and rescue and humanitarian missions besides sending ragheads to Allah!

    1. Re:UAVs are not normally used to 'blow people up' by by+(1706743) · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not to mention ghost-riding the...uh...plane...?

    2. Re:UAVs are not normally used to 'blow people up' by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Depends. The original UAVs, the Predator and Global Hawk UAVs were not originally carrying anything except surveillance gear. Now, both the Predator and it's big brother the Reaper [http://www.google.com/search?q=Reaper+UAV] carry Hellfire missiles in day-to-day operations. I don't believe the Global Hawk does this though (although they are *great* for long range/loiter operations compared to the Predator/Reaper).

  5. Remote operated UAVs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Usually news articles about remote operated UAVs involve blowing people up

    Remote operated UAVs? As opposed to all the manned ones?

    1. Re:Remote operated UAVs? by deapbluesea · · Score: 0

      Usually news articles about remote operated UAVs involve blowing people up

      Remote operated UAVs? As opposed to all the manned ones?

      I was wondering more about where all the references to UAVs "blowing people up" come from. So far, that's only been the paranoid, uneducated, misinformed, and bogus slashdot responses to stories about UAVs. The stories themselves generally involve things like Google testing an airborne camera .

      --
      Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
    2. Re:Remote operated UAVs? by zill · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Remote operated UAVs, as opposed to Autonomous UAVs.

    3. Re:Remote operated UAVs? by Goaway · · Score: 1

      Are you actually not aware that UAVs are regularly used to perform military strikes, or what?

    4. Re:Remote operated UAVs? by Jeng · · Score: 1

      Or remotely autonomous?

       

      --
      Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
    5. Re:Remote operated UAVs? by deapbluesea · · Score: 1

      Are you actually not aware that UAVs are regularly used to perform military strikes, or what?

      No, just pointing out that the number of UAV flight hours dedicated to strike missions is a tiny percent of all UAV flight hours ref2 ref2 (500,000 flight hours per year, 92 projected attacks in 2010 at ~10 hour mission per attack is 920 hours - so 0.1% of flight hours on attack). It's the equivalent of saying that all planes are only used for bombing while ignoring every other aspect of aviation.

      --
      Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
    6. Re:Remote operated UAVs? by Goaway · · Score: 1

      If anybody had said anything like that, you might have a point, but nobody did.

  6. Re:piloted aircraft CAUSE hurricanes by rvw14 · · Score: 3, Funny

    You forgot to add that the 8 corners of the timecube are false.

  7. Re:How? by blantonl · · Score: 1

    This post clearly shows that Slashdot is doomed. My Karma be damned for posting this. Someone had to say it, and if it results in a down vote (or whatever it is here) then, well so be it.

    --
    Lindsay Blanton
    RadioReference.com
  8. Re:How? by metobillc · · Score: 0, Redundant

    They gather data that gets blended with numerical models to aid in track and intensity prediction, which provide quite a significant benefit to humanity.

  9. Re:How? by bertoelcon · · Score: 1

    Saving a few lives when 100x as many die every year to massive overpopulation?

    The overpopulation problem seems to be fixing itself then.

    --
    Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
  10. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    How does that provide "quite a significant benefit to humanity"? It provides some insight, sure. But it does not do what you claim it does.

  11. Re:piloted aircraft CAUSE hurricanes by Goaway · · Score: 2, Funny

    Four! Four corners! What are you, educated stupid?

  12. Re:How? by Goaway · · Score: 1

    Yes, better warnings for hurricanes benefits nobody.

  13. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    Sure, it benefits somebody. Just not humanity.

  14. Re:How? by hex0D · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Exactly how many individuals does something have to benefit before you consider it beneficial to humanity?

  15. Re:How? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't pay him any mind. Everyone else gets it, and he probably does too. He's just pretty much arguing and questioning it for the sake of douchebaggery.

  16. Re:How? by sjames · · Score: 2, Insightful

    By that logic, the fire department should just shut down. The lives and property they save are just a drop in the bucket.

  17. Re:How? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    your post made me think of this xkcd post:

    http://xkcd.com/174/

  18. mynuts won, HUH? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you both forgot to add that you're both afraid, no demeaning retort intended.

  19. Live streaming paintball bombardment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Come on, NASA, let us queue up for 30 seconds of access to a live feed with the ability to move/aim/zoom the camera and fire a paintball! Charge for it and make millions!

  20. Re:How? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're a dumbass who has no comprehension of the subject, yet feels the need to announce his ignorant-pissed opinion to the world. Google hurricane prediction or something or some shit like that it shouldn't take you too long to figure it out.

  21. Re:piloted aircraft CAUSE hurricanes by mysidia · · Score: 1

    Damn straight.... because there are 4 corner days 4 quads; cubic time cubes. That's 16 corners, not 8.

    The 16 corners are the one true number.
    4 days rotating simultaneously within a single rotation of earth. [sic]

    etc etc etc [paraphrasing timecube.com]

  22. Aerosonde has been doing it for a while by highways · · Score: 1

    The (former) little aussie that could :) - they have since been bought out by Boeing (Insitu).

    Aerosonde has been doing it for a while, hence aero-sonde. I believe they started doing crazy weather stuff some time before they were the first UAV to cross the Atlantic in 1998.

  23. RECUV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The University of Colorado and University of Nebraska have been doing this to target severe thunderstorms for awhile. http://tornadochaser.colorado.edu/

  24. This could save big money. by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

    Presently, Mississippi politicians have larded up the hurricane hunter fleet in Biloxi, MS.

    The use of drones could eliminate the need for putting pilots and crew in harms way and shut down an over-expensive program. Its time the government began investing in technologies that will save money rather than just protecting political pork.

  25. Hurricanes exist for a reason by regexgreg · · Score: 0

    How can stopping hurricanes be a good thing? How do we know what adverse effects could occur if we interfered? Imagine we stopped volcanoes? Like all things natural; when we try stop them; something worse replaces them!

  26. Re:How? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    best xkcd ever!

  27. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    The fire department doesn't claim it's benefiting humanity.

  28. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    Check a dictionary sometime.

  29. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    Again, the point is it's not cool or doesn't provide us with information. The point is that it does NOT benefit humanity. The utter amount of stupidity around here is shocking. As if my comprehension on the subject at all affects the utter misuse of a word. It makes me sad to see people dogging someone about their stupidity when they all seem to fail at comprehending English.

  30. Re:How? by Goaway · · Score: 1

    Here's a hint: If you find that everybody is doing something wrong and you're the only one who gets it right, that probably doesn't mean it is they who are wrong.

  31. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    "Majority gets it wrong" is not proof that I am wrong. Welcome to logical fallacies as well. I really hope you enjoy failing at everything.

  32. Re:How? by hex0D · · Score: 1
    OK. from http://dictionary.reference.com/ : 1. all human beings collectively; the human race; humankind. 2. the quality or condition of being human; human nature. 3. the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence.

    It clearly benefits humanity in the 2nd & 3rd meaning of the word. As for the 1st, that's a subjective call as to how many people need to benefit, and by how much, before it's a collective benefit.

  33. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    How does it clearly benefit human nature and kindness? Throwing 'clearly' in front of something does not make it clear.

  34. Re:How? by hex0D · · Score: 1

    giving someone advance warning of an oncoming storm qualifies as kindness. I'm sincerely sorry if that is not clear to you.

  35. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    Once again, advanced warnings may be kind. But it does not benefit humanity.

  36. Re:How? by hex0D · · Score: 1

    Once again, how many people need to be helped before you consider it a benefit to humanity? All of them? There's people who have never had antibiotics so you would not call antibiotics benefit to humanity?

  37. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    Antibiotics help everyone and have the potential to help everyone. Advanced warnings of hurricanes do not. Apples and oranges, bro. Apples and oranges.

  38. Re:How? by Goaway · · Score: 1

    It is not proof, but it is a pretty strong indicator. Nobody was trying to build a logical proof.

  39. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    It's not even a strong indicator. There are plenty of things MOST people get completely wrong.

  40. Re:How? by hex0D · · Score: 1

    Advance warning of storms are just like antibiotics in that they only help those who receive them when needed. Which is not everyone. But the more who do receive help, the greater the benefit to humanity. Which was kind of the point of my original pointed question, so this is getting tedious.

  41. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    We're talking about the potential advanced warning of hurricanes and the prediction of their path. These impact very few people and those who would greatly benefit from this knowledge (those who lose homes and lives to them) are an even smaller and almost insignificant percentage of the population of this planet.

    Contrast that with bacteria which affect EVERY single person on this planet. In most, bacteria even result in disease and sickness, and the availability of antibiotics to most people in the world benefits just about everyone. Your argument hinges on these not being readily available to most people but for instance a bar of antibacterial soap is incredibly cheap and lends itself a lot to the prevention of disease. Further, for those that cannot afford ingested antibiotics to fight off serious infection, the availability of antibiotics to them would almost certainly prove effective.

    Now consider the absolute availability of predictive information for hurricanes. This information, even if totally pervasive and given for free to every single individual on the planet, would still benefit very few people. By your logic, it will greatly benefit humanity for our governments to make it illegal to inhabit areas hit hardest by hurricanes.

    You were correct about a single thing: this is getting tedious.

  42. Re:How? by Goaway · · Score: 1

    Or so you like to tell yourself, rather than admit you're on the losing side of an argument.

  43. Re:How? by jmerlin · · Score: 1

    What is this, 5th grade debate? "You're losing the debate" is not a valid argument in your favor, nor is it even factually correct. Try again. Your argument so far is "because people get it wrong, and you got it right, you must be wrong." Maybe you should think about that for a little while.

  44. Re:How? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, man. You're really getting into this. Is this a sensitive topic for you? Do you need a hug, sweetie?