Both the Arctic and the Antarctic are to be visited by remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) this year as European, Australian, and Canadian armed forces, and their coast guards, prepare for the highest and lowest latitudes.

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During the southern hemisphere’s summer, from about 1 December to the end of February the following year, the Department of Defence supports the Australian Antarctic Program’s operations. The program’s scientists there have a million-year-old ice core project that aims to extract 3km-deep samples. The scientists are supported by the Defence Department’s icebreaker RSV Nuyina, which carries drones and their operators.

“We did have helicopters on board and small boats, but we found we were often operating the drones in conditions that we couldn’t operate helicopters or small boats in. Which was a bit of an eye opener for a lot of people,” said Australian Antarctic Division RPAS expert Dr Doug Thost. He was referring to a mission to Heard Island, a remote Australian territory that has the nation’s only active volcano. But Heard Island is not in the Antarctic circle, it is considered a Sub-Antarctic island. Dr Thost works on RPAS operations and development and is the Deputy Chief Remote Pilot for the Australian government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.