PROTESTERS in Chile have taken down a police drone by aiming dozens of laser pens at the gadget. Video footage shows the dramatic moment the drone plummets after about 50 lasers were jointly pointed in to the sky in Santiago. The laser action in Chile’s capital was taken after a month of protests has created […]
PROTESTERS in Chile have taken down a police drone by aiming dozens of laser pens at the gadget.
Video footage shows the dramatic moment the drone plummets after about 50 lasers were jointly pointed in to the sky in Santiago.
The laser action in Chile’s capital was taken after a month of protests has created chaos in the South American nation.
The bringing down of the spy drone has sparked a range of suggestions over how the gadgets were used so successfully.
Interesting Engineering said that among the many theories “floating around social media” was that the lasers were powerful enough to melt the plastic on the drone – particularly if it was cheaply made.
Those lasers aren’t strong enough to do what been claimed. I bet someone threw a rock when it actually fell.
Joe Jimearson
But others have suggested that pointing dozens of lasers at the gadget simultaneously blinded the drone’s camera lens.
Or, it could have made it overheat and malfunction.
When the website posted about the unusual event on Facebook, Luis Rodriguez commented: “Consumer grade lasers could hardly do any damage, except perhaps to the camera sensor.”
But a sceptical Joe Jimearson said: “Those lasers aren’t strong enough to do what the article is claiming… I bet someone threw a rock when it actually fell.”
However Stanley Balfour suggested: “My guess is the drone’s sensors would’ve been completely confused and it’s done an auto land.”
Zeeshan Shabbir said: “Laser can kill the image sensor of the camera that [the] drone is installed with. Of course you can’t fly the drone without its camera.”
The drone’s downing comes as riots, arson and looting have killed more than 20 people, caused extensive damage and prompted President Sebastian Pinera to call soldiers on to the streets.
And news agency the Associated Press reported today that protesters are being deliberately blinded by cops firing projectiles in to their faces.
Chile’s main medical body says that at least 230 people have lost their sight after being shot in an eye in the last month at demonstrations over inequality and better social services.
Of those, at least 50 people will need prosthetic eyes, said Dr Patricio Meza, vice president of the Medical College of Chile.
This means that the patient doesn’t only lose their vision – but they lose their actual eye.
Meza said the victims are on average 30 years old.
In 80 per cent of the cases, the damage was caused by the impact of a lead or rubber projectile on their eyes.
At demonstrations, Chile’s police force, the Carabineros, often fire pellet guns at 90 degrees – directly at the faces of protesters.
Activists took to the streets from October 18 as students were angry about a rise in subway fares.
But their action took fire and prompted widespread action, with people protesting about the large gap between the haves and have-nots in Chile.
They are calling for reforms to health care, education, the pension system and even the constitution, which dates back to 1980 – during the 1973-1990 military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
Lawmakers in Chile agreed today to hold a referendum next April on replacing the Pinochet-era constitution.
The incredible moment protesters used dozens of laser pens to send police drone crashing to the ground in Chile has prompted much discussion over how the aerial gadget was knocked out.
On Reddit, these were mooted as the possible causes:
