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In Iowa (United States), tornado hunters successfully captured incredible images: the interior of a tornado using a camera-equipped drone.
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The image is as rare as it is striking. Thanks to this drone, you are now in the heart of a tornado. An exceptional document filmed by these American researchers. “It’s one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. It was amazing. But at the same time, I had to stay very focused on the mission. Everything was complicated: designing the drone, flying it, and especially chasing tornadoes,” explains Louis Tucker, pilot of “The Otus Project.”
For the past two years, they have been tracking tornadoes and sending their drones as close as possible to the phenomena. To obtain these incredible images, but also valuable data: temperature, pressure, humidity. They built the machine from scratch using a 3D printer.
Louis Tucker is a former drone racing champion. Today, his scientific project has caught the interest of the American government, which partly funded it. Because tornadoes cause deaths and significant damage in the United States every year. Meteorologists have a hard time predicting them.
“A tornado can accelerate, it can slow down, it can turn back. The goal of the research is to try to understand very precisely, and by understanding very precisely, perhaps be able to predict better and therefore, if it is better predictable, also better alert, and thus better protect the population,” says Matthieu Lacroix, a doctoral student in climatology specializing in tornadoes at the University of Lyon 2. Drones are actually a miniature version of the aircraft used by the U.S. military to fly into the heart of hurricanes this time and gather valuable scientific data.
