Stratospheric drone could make weather balloons obsolete

Weather balloons are wasteful, and not very eco-friendly – they burst upon reaching high altitudes, then fall back to the earth as trash that rarely gets recovered. That's why there's now a reusable multicopter weather drone that can fly to the edge of the stratosphere.

Announced this Thursday (Sept. 8), the Strato is a quadcopter made by Swiss weather technology company Meteomatics.

It is reportedly capable of reaching a record-setting altitude of 34,245 feet (10,438 meters) – and is rated to 39,000 ft (11,887 m) – where it can collect data on variables such as temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind speed. That said, it's worth noting that balloons can typically ascend to at least 60,000 feet (18,288 m) before the difference in the surrounding air pressure causes them to pop.

While balloons can go higher, however, the logistics involved in launching them typically limits them to two prescheduled launch times per day. By contrast, Meteomatics points out that the Strato can be flown at any time, whenever changing conditions indicate that new readings should be taken.

Of course, the weather might not be all that balmy up in the stratosphere.

For that reason, the Strato is fully waterproof, it can withstand sustained winds of up to 80 mph (129 km/h) by automatically orienting itself into headwinds, plus it has an automatic de-icing system in its propellers. It's also said to be capable of remaining operational in temperatures down to -70 ºC (-94 ºF) and up to 60 ºC (140 ºF).

Real-time telemetry, including altitude, wind, temperature, and icing alerts is relayed to its ground-based operator throughout the flight. And if all else fails, the Strato has a parachute that will deploy in the event of an "emergency descent." There's no word on battery life.

It's available now via the company website.

Source: Meteomatics