可以吃的无人机能飞吗?

    Using airdrops to deliver relief* to disaster zones may sound like a simple solution, but these missions have proved to be inaccurate, wasteful and expensive.

    With that in mind, ex-British army veteran Nigel Gifford is developing a drone with edible* wings that is capable of carrying vacuum-packed food and medical supplies. The rest of the drone is set to be made from wood, which can be used for cooking and heating. Pouncer will generate power from compressed* air or solid fuel, and either launch from a tailgate aircraft in the air or a catapult* on the ground.

    Gifford, who is also an engineer, found success after selling his solar satellite company, Ascenta, to Facebook in 2014 for US$20 million. Now, Gifford hopes this innovation will take him to new heights.

    “Pouncer addresses the fast reactive need to deliver food aid into remote, difficult, damaged and broken infrastructures* by overflying the difficulties and placing life-sustaining nutrition exactly where it’s needed,” he said.

    Pouncer is designed with an airframe skin made from biodegradable* starch-based thermoplastic, which will be filled with vacuum-packed food packages and medical supplies.

    It’s believed that the food packed inside will depend on the diet of those who are on the receiving end.

    The drone can also be filled with water and fuel for cooking.

    Typically, military planes fly over their target, open the back hatch and release parachutes attached to packaged food and supplies. However, this method can be wasteful, as airdrops do not always make it to their destination.

    In March, the United Nations World Food Program aimed to drop 21 pallets of food to more than 200,000 Syrians in the city of Deir ez-Zor.

    Unfortunately, the mission ended in failure — four pallets were destroyed due to faulty parachutes, seven landed too far away and 10 were never found.(SD-Agencies)