{"id":1192996,"date":"2020-06-30T08:35:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T13:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1028214"},"modified":"2020-07-03T08:35:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T13:35:00","slug":"hunter-drone-that-flies-at-night-could-be-used-to-find-gemstone-deposits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1192996","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hunter drone\u2019 that flies at night could be used to find gemstone deposits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers at The University of Hong Kong co-developed an autonomous ‘hunter drone’ that seeks out targets at night using a scanning laser. The mechanism could effectively be used to find new mineral deposits.<\/p>\n

In a paper<\/a> published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution<\/em>, the scientists explain that the application of laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) to an aerial system is possible because of the laser\u2019s ability to project over great distances with little loss in power. <\/p>\n

The technique has been highly successful in paleontology, making fossil bones glow and revealing otherwise invisible details like skin and cartilage.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Hotspot on laser \u2018scan strip\u2019 produced by the Laser Raptor drone system is ~2cm wide fragment of a fossil mammal tooth. (Image courtesy of Thomas G Kaye & Michael Pittman, The University of Hong Kong)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Fluorescence is also extremely sensitive to differences in mineral composition so the new system’s creators believe it is ready to seek out a whole range of fluorescent targets including minerals, for example, to study rare and unusual geology or to search for gemstones.<\/p>\n

The drone has been nicknamed ‘Laser Raptor\u2019 and it is loaded with pre-programmed flight paths during the day. <\/p>\n

Then, at night, it flies rapidly to search locations using its onboard navigation and then descends and maintains an altitude of 4 metres above ground so it can ‘mow the lawn’ in search of glowing targets as small as a thumbnail. After each “mission” is complete, a video of the laser scan is processed to find hotspots that are investigated the next day.<\/p>\n

Co-creators Thomas Kaye and Michael Pittman said they are now working to develop LSF applications for the study of geologic landscapes beyond Earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An autonomous ‘hunter drone’ finds fluorescent targets including minerals and gemstones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[624,369],"tags":[43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1192996"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1193810,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192996\/revisions\/1193810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1192996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1192996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1192996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}