14 DAY TRIAL // China appears to have finally found a solution to its air pollution crisis. Or so it would have the rest of the world believe. Thus, news from this part of the world says that the country wishes to use drones to clean the smog currently hovering over it.
Information made available to the public that these drones' working agenda would boil down to flying around and spraying a cocktail made up of various chemical compounds into the air.
The exact recipe for this cocktail has not yet been disclosed, but word has it that whatever chemical compounds will go into making it are expected to bind with smog particles and cause them to fall to the ground.
Daily Mail tells us that, although China has been using airplanes and fixed-wing drones to saturate the air with chemicals intended to curb air pollution for several years now, the latest initiative of this kind involves the use of a newly-developed drone.
This new unmanned aerial vehicle will be able to fly around while carrying 70 kilograms (about 154 pounds) of smog-clearing chemicals, and will tackle air pollution within a 5-kilometer (roughly 3 miles) radius before it has to return to base for a refill.
The drone is the brainchild of state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China, and it is scheduled to embark on its maiden voyage sometime later this month, the same source reports.
Thus, according to local media reports in China, the unmanned aerial vehicle is to undergo a series of trials at airports and ports in the next couple of weeks.
Talking to the press, the drone's manufacturers explained that it was fairly easy to operate, and that the costs of buying and maintaining it were 20 – 30% lower than the ones associated with other vehicles of this kind.
Should it perform as well as is expected of it, the unmanned aerial vehicle will probably get a promotion and be allowed to try and improve on air quality not just around airports and ports, but also in other urban areas now struggling with pollution.
The news that China wants to use drones to tackle air pollution comes shortly after a researcher with the country's Agricultural University said that local smog and other harmful compounds concentrations were so high that they resembled a nuclear winter.
Scientist He Dongxian also said that, unless measures to solve the problem were implemented without the delay, China's agriculture and food supply were likely to be greatly affected by the ongoing air pollution crisis.