Drone news: DJI Matrice 30, Mars Drone Extended, Attempted Drone Smuggling, and Industry Update

This week in drone news: the DJI Matrice 30 has been released, the Ingenuity drone on mars has been extended to continue flights, a man attempting to smuggle drugs using drones has been arrested, and events/UAS industry update.

Mavic 3 DeepDive: https://pilotinstitute.com/course/dji-mavic-3-deep-dive/

The Matrice 30 was released this week

Available as M30 or M30T

48MP 1/2 CMOS and 5x to 16x optical and 200x digital zoom

12MP wide-angle cam

8k photo and 4k 30 fps and laser range finder.

M30T has an additional 640x512px radiometric thermal cam

IP55, OcuSync 3 Enterprise, 41 minute flight time, quick recharge, local data mode, emergency 3 prop landing, 3.7kg

along with releases of the

DJI RC Plus - New enterprise smart controller

DJI FlightHub 2 - Flight planning and docking station software

DJI Dock - Docking station for the M30

DJI Zenmuse H20N - Night Vision

https://dronexl.co/2022/03/21/foldable-dji-matrice-30-m30/

NASA has officially extended flight operations for the Mars drone Ingenuity!

Currently, Ingenuity has logged over 38 minutes of flight (One Evo 2 or Mavic 3 battery) and traveled 2.9 miles The missions will focus on supporting the Perseverance, providing route assistance, assessing targets, and imaging other features outside of the rover's reach.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/space-flight/mars-helicopter-mission-extended

A man in Washington County Tennessee has been arrested after flying a drone over a jail yard.

The drone was carrying a package wrapped in black electrical tape.

Officers managed to grab the package and disconnect it from the drone.

The drone then crashed due to the fishing line being tangled in the propellers.

The package contained illegal narcotics and oxycodone pills.

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/drugs-smuggle-drone-washington-county-wcyb-east-tennessee/51-ef893852-e526-4dc7-ab3d-34844a89e532