Laser-equipped autonomous drones could warn about the next big volcanic eruption

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich built a drone-and-laser system that maps volcanic gases to help predict eruptions. A ground station fires a laser through a gas cloud toward a reflector on a drone, measuring how much CO2 absorbs the beam. The system produces 3D gas maps with only 5% error, keeping humans and equipment safely away from corrosive volcanic plumes.