UPS Seeks Authority for Commercial Drone Flights

United Parcel Service Inc. is seeking U.S. authorization to operate commercial drone flights, signaling the delivery giant’s intent to compete in a developing but increasingly crowded sector. The parcel carrier said Tuesday it had applied to the Federal Aviation Administration for certification of drone flights through the company’s recently formed subsidiary called UPS Flight Forward Inc. The certification if approved, would allow drone flights beyond an operator’s visual line of sight, at night and without limit to the number of drones or operators in command, the company said. Such flights are highly restricted in the U.S.

Rocket-shooting drone, controlled by weaponized wet blanket, shuts down street party

While drones can be used to do extremely cool things, like allowing you to have a sausage delivered straight to your hot tub, they’re also capable of serving the whims of total dweebs who would rather end a party than enhance it with robot-provided snacks. A stunning, frightening example of this is shown via a recent video. In it, a drone hovers above a street filled with revelers enjoying a summer evening and, controlled by someone off screen, begins firing Roman candles at the frantic crowd.  The clip was uploaded to YouTube by someone—hopefully not the party-ruining jerk in question—named Roberto Estella and is titled with a single Portuguese sentence, which Google Translate renders as: “When you have funk dancing on the street get on your drone with a rocket and finish the party.”

Moment Air brings an anamorphic lens to DJI’s drones for cinematic flair

Moment, the company that makes high-quality lenses for smartphones, is expanding its expertise to drones — specifically the DJI Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom. The platform is called Moment Air and it doesn’t just include lenses, but also filters, a new mounting system, as well as an iPhone case. There’s only one lens available at the moment, and it’s the Drone Anamorphic Lens. Moment released its cinematography-focused anamorphic lens for smartphones last year, which offers a cinema-wide aspect ratio as well as neat lens-flare effects. This lens delivers the same results, but it has been redesigned with “aerospace-grade composites and metals” — Moment is calling this “Featherlight” construction — to ensure it isn’t too heavy for the drone.

China's DJI plans to build drones in California amid U.S. security concern

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chinese manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd, the world’s largest producer of consumer drones, said on Monday it plans to use a company warehouse in California to assemble them, a move that follows security concerns raised by some U.S. lawmakers. DJI said it will assemble its Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual drones in Cerritos, California, after the U.S. Customs and Border Protection determines that the U.S. produced value of its drones will qualify under the U.S. Trade Agreements Act. That designation should make it easier for some U.S. government agencies to buy the drones, the company said

Uber will start testing Eats drone delivery

Uber is gearing up to start testing drone delivery for Uber Eats  in dense urban environments. This comes after the Federal Aviation Administration awarded Uber and San Diego, Calif. the right to test commercial food delivery via drone. This comes shortly after Amazon announced it would begin drone deliveries “within months.” Uber completed the initial phase of testing at San Diego State University in partnership with McDonald’s. Later this year, Uber plans to include others Eats restaurant partners. But Uber isn’t using drones for the full delivery, just a part of it. Once a customer orders food, the restaurant will prepare the meal and then load it onto a drone. That drone will then take off, fly and land at a pre-determined drop-off location.

Boeing drone unit Insitu cuts workforce, dealing a blow to Columbia Gorge community

Boeing drone unit Insitu, which employs about 1,000 people in the Columbia River Gorge and about 500 elsewhere, said Tuesday it is cutting its workforce due to competitive pressures and a falloff in business. Chief executive Esina Alic announced the news to employees without providing any details on the overall number of people who will be laid off. A person familiar with the details said the workforce will be cut by about 15 percent, which will slash more than 200 jobs. That’s a major blow to employment in the area around Bingen, Wash., where Insitu is based, and Hood River, Ore., across the Columbia River. A small cluster of aerospace suppliers has grown up there.

US Government Warns of Drones That Send Data to China

Drone aircraft used to be prohibitively expensive, but now you can buy a camera-equipped drone that talks to your smartphone for under $100. The US Department of Homeland Security has issued an alert that drones manufactured by Chinese firms might have become a little too accessible. The DHS says much of the data collected by these drones ends up on servers in mainland China where the Chinese government can access it. The agency doesn’t mention any Chinese drone makers by name, but the target is crystal clear. Shenzhen-based DJI makes approximately 80 percent of the drones currently operating in the US and Canada.

How do tornadoes form? This drone-based project seeks to unravel the secrets of spinning storms

WALNUT, Iowa — A multiyear project in the Great Plains rolled out Monday with hopes of better understanding supercell thunderstorms and the tornadoes they spawn. Led by officials at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, the TORUS project — Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) of Supercells — is deployed until June 16, with a second deployment planned in 2020. Dozens of researchers from multiple academic institutions and the federal government are participating. Researchers said they hope the project will help to improve forecasts for supercells, which are thunderstorms that spin, and the hazards they can produce. “TORUS aims to use the data collected to improve the conceptual model of supercell thunderstorms (the parent storms of the most destructive tornadoes) by exposing how small-scale structures within these storms might lead to tornado formation,” according to the Earth Observing Laboratory at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

Chernobyl nuclear fallout zone mapped by drones

British scientists have used drones to create the most comprehensive radiation maps ever of the fallout zone from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The Red Forest, just 500 metres from the site of the reactor in the Ukraine, is one of the most radioactive places on the planet. The area is considered too dangerous for humans to spend any more than a few hours. But by using drones fitted with radiation detectors a team from the UK's National Centre for Nuclear Robotics was able to survey the contaminated area in complete safety.

A kidney for transplant was delivered by drone for the first time ever

A kidney scheduled for transplant was delivered by a drone for the first time ever, said the University of Maryland Medical Center, in a move they say could make organ delivery safer and more affordable. The drone was custom-built to monitor the organ in the air in real time as it was delivered on April 19 and send updates to personnel handling the transplant, the hospital said in a statement released Friday. The recipient of the delivered kidney was a 44-year-old woman from Baltimore who spent eight years on dialysis before undergoing the transplant, said the hospital.