Technicians prepare large UAV, Ganlin-1, meaning "sweet rain" in Chinese, for its maiden flight at Jinchuan airport in Jinchang City in northwest China's Gansu Province, Jan. 6, 2021. China deployed a large unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on Wednesday for generating artificial precipitation in northwest China's Gansu Province, with an aim of boosting ecological protection. During its maiden voyage, which lasted around 40 minutes, Ganlin-1 maintained stable flight and successfully conducted weather-modification operations, such as atmospheric detection and catalyst spreading to generate precipitation, as well as the de-icing of the UAV itself. This innovative move in ecological protection marks the launch of China's first large UAV-based weather-modification system, filling the country's gap in the field. The UAV is capable of long-range atmospheric sounding, air-data acquisition and catalyst seeding for precipitation enhancement, according to the developer. (Xinhua/Fan Peishen)
