Antarctica. A cold and inhospitable place, but also the place for drone testing. Scientists from Britian and Germany are studying this cold place with the help of drones.

These small airplanes are radio controlled for the launch and landing, but completely on their own for the middle of the flight. They are also outfitted with temperature sensors to help study climate change in the area.

From October to December of 2007, they completed over 20 successful flights. The 2 biggest challenges were using radio controls with large mittens on and keeping batteries running in the frozen temperatures.

Link to BBC Video

Link via (Robots.net)