China to test new smog-busting drone

As China grapples to contain recurring smog, its scientists claimed to have developed a drone which will help to clear the polluted skies.
Chinese aviation designers prepared for the test flight of the SYW-1 drone to see if it can clear smog, official media here reported.
The unmanned aerial vehicle with a glide parachute has been developed and manufactured by AVIC Aerospace, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corp of China.
The vehicle will spray chemicals that freeze pollutants, allowing them to fall to the ground.
The drone will carry out its first smog dispersal test at airports or ports in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, state-run China Daily quoted Ma Yongsheng, a deputy to the NPC and chairman of AVIC Aerospace as saying.

Two days back, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in his address to to the National People's Congress vowed to carry out a war against pollution as it has become a major health hazard in the country.

The drone is easy to control and maintain and has carried out more than 100 hours of test flights.
The new drone is 90 per cent cheaper to operate than the fixed-wing aircraft that have been used to disperse smog for several years.
The drone can carry 80 kg of smog-dispersing chemicals and can remain airborne for three hours, AVIC Aerospace says. A future model will be able to carry 700 kg of chemicals.

It can also be used for agricultural seeding, disaster relief and aerial mapping, the Daily reported.
Cao Xianghong, director of the National Petroleum Products and Lubricants Standardisation Technical Committee, said advanced technology can help to reduce the sulfur and nitrogen content in coal.
China is learning about and introducing technologies from overseas to help improve air quality, he said.
Chinese officials in the past used cloud seeding to ease air pollution.
However, some environmentalists have expressed concern over secondary pollution and warned that weather manipulation is not a long-term solution to the overall problem.
Unless there is no other option, it is better not to manipulate the weather to reduce smog, but rather use the strategy as an emergency plan, Feng Yongfeng, founder of the Beijing environmental non-governmental organisation Green Beagle, said.