Communications between Earth and NASA spacecraft were critically vulnerable to hacking for years until an AI found the flaw and fixed it in just four days.

The vulnerability was sniffed out by an AI cybersecurity algorithm developed by California-based start-up AISLE and resides in the CryptoLib security software that protects spacecraft-to-ground communications. The vulnerability could have enabled hackers to seize control over countless space missions including NASA's Mars rovers, according to the cybersecurity researchers.

"For three years, the security system meant to protect spacecraft-to-ground communications contained a vulnerability that could undermine that protection." the AISLE cyber-security researchers wrote in a blog post on the company's website describing the vulnerability. "A vulnerability in this software poses a threat to billions of dollars in space infrastructure and the scientific missions they enable."

The researchers said the vulnerability was found in the authentication system and could have been exploited through compromised operator credentials. For example, the attackers could have gained access to user names and passwords of NASA employees through social engineering, methods such as phishing or infecting computers with viruses uploaded to USB drives and left where personnel could find them.

"The vulnerability transforms what should be routine authentication configuration into a weapon," the researchers wrote. "An attacker … can inject arbitrary commands that execute with full system privileges."

In other words, an attacker could remotely hijack the spacecraft or just intercept the data it is exchanging with ground control.

Fortunately, to gain access to the spacecraft through the CryptoLib vulnerability would require the attackers to, at some point, have local access to the system, which "reduces the attack surface compared to a remotely exploitable flaw," the researchers said in the blog post.

The researchers said that the vulnerability survived in the authentication software despite multiple human reviews of the code over the three years it existed. AISLE's AI-powered "autonomous analyzer" discovered and helped fix the problem in four days, highlighting the potential these tools have in terms of detecting cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

"Automated analysis tools are becoming essential," the researchers wrote. "Human review remains valuable, but autonomous analyzers can systematically examine entire codebases, flag suspicious patterns, and operate continuously as code evolves."

The most detailed supercomputer simulation ever of our Milky Way galaxy has been created by combining machine learning with numerical models. By running 100 times faster than the next most detailed models, the program gives astronomers the chance to map billions of years of the evolution of our galaxy in months rather than decades.

The new simulation contains 100 billion particles representing stars, which is roughly the same number of stars that call the Milky Way home. The previous best-resolution simulations could only manage a billion stars, and were slow. To model a million years of galactic evolution in detail would take 315 hours, or 13 days, in real-time, meaning that to simulate a billion years using those previous best-resolution simulations would take almost 36 years of real computing time.

Now, a team led by Keiya Hirashima of the RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences in Japan has developed a new supercomputer-powered simulation that is faster and has far greater star-resolution, thanks to a new methodology that allows both short- and long-time scale events to be included.

In comparison, the previous best-resolution simulations only had a billion particles. Each particle would represent 100 stars, but this then smoothed over the details, such as the effect that a single supernova can have on the surrounding gaseous environment. The previous best simulation therefore favored long-term events over short-term phenomena connected to individual stars, but often it is the short-term phenomena that influences the larger scale, longer-term galactic evolution.

To process simulations at shorter timescales would require more computing power, but Hirashima's team have been able to side-step this barrier by developing a new methodology. It takes a deep-learning surrogate model — think of it as a kind of training model — and applies it to high-resolution supernova data so that it learns to predict how the supernova remnant expands into the interstellar medium over the course of 100,000 years. This expansion blows away gas and dust in the interstellar medium and enriches it with new elements forged by the supernova blast, altering the distribution and chemistry of the interstellar medium. The gas and dust is then eventually converted into the next generation of stars to inhabit the galaxy.

By integrating the surrogate model with numerical simulations describing the overall dynamics of the Milky Way, Hirashima's team were able to incorporate the effects of shorter timescale supernova events into the larger timescale galactic processes.

The new methodology also sped things up, with a million years of simulation time taking just 2.78 hours to render. At that rate, it would take just 115 days, not 36 years, to simulate a billion years' worth of galactic evolution.

"I believe that integrating AI with high-performance computing marks a fundamental shift in how we tackle multi-scale, multi-physics problems across the computational sciences," said Hirashima in a statement.

The methodology need not be constrained to astrophysics either; with a little tweaking, it could be used to simulate climate change, oceanic or weather models where small-scale events influence larger scale processes.

In the context of galactic evolution, and testing models of how our galaxy formed, how its structure developed and how its chemistry has flourished, the methodology could be transformative.

"This achievement also shows that AI-accelerated simulations can move beyond pattern recognition to become a genuine tool for scientific discovery, helping us trace how the elements that formed life itself emerged without our galaxy," said Hirashima.

The results of the new simulation were published as part of an international supercomputing conference called SC '25.

Reaching interstellar space could be far simpler than we thought, thanks to a new idea called TARS, or "Torqued Accelerator using Radiation from the Sun." It's essentially a solar-powered centrifuge that can slingshot tiny probes to speeds greater than the escape velocity required to exit the solar system.

Undertaking an interstellar mission "is one of the most challenging problems that humanity is ever going to face," David Kipping, the scientist behind the idea for TARS, toldSpace.com.

TARS, named after the robot from the 2014 film "Interstellar," could potentially be a way to travel to other stars. TARS requires no fusion reactors, no gigawatt laser — and not even a chemical rocket (other than to launch TARS from Earth). Instead, the beauty of TARS lies in its simplicity. Here's how it's meant to work.

Kipping, who is professor of astronomy at Columbia University in New York, envisaged TARS as featuring two paddles, with each paddle having reflective coating on one side and a dark coating on the other. The paddles would be situated 180 degrees with relation to one another, so the reflective sides point in opposite directions. They would be connected by a tether.

Like with a solar sail, sunlight would push on the reflective sides, causing TARS to spin — faster and faster until it reaches a critical velocity at which a tiny spacecraft, perhaps no larger than a mobile phone, is flung off at high speed. TARS would also act a bit like a battery, charging up with solar energy until it's ready to release all that solar energy as kinetic energy.

In his paper, written with Columbia engineering student Kathryn Lampo, Kipping gives an example of two paddles just 2.8 microns thick but 23 feet (7 meters) wide, separated by a tether 207 feet (63 meters) long, that can be spun up for three years before slinging its tiny spacecraft away at 7.5 miles (12.1 kilometers) per second. Add its orbital motion to its slingshot speed and this device should get above the 26 miles (42 kilometers) per second required to escape the solar system and enter interstellar space.

Traveling at that final speed, however, would take over 30,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri, which is 4.3 light-years away. On the bright side, there are things that can be done to speed things up even further.

In terms of the basic design, Kipping says there are two factors that govern the release velocity: "One is how long you charge it for, but the most important is the specific tensile strength, which is the tensile strength relative to the mass."

Tensile strength describes the maximum load a material can carry before breaking, and it is determined by the material used. The strongest off-the-shelf materials Kipping could find were commercially available sheets of carbon nanotubes, which is what the calculations in his paper are based on. However, in the future, we might find a way to manufacture graphene at an industrial scale, which would be a much better material because it has a much greater tensile strength than even carbon nanotubes. This would significantly improve the release velocity, Kipping says.

Other techniques could include harnessing the "Oberth effect," whereby a spacecraft accelerates as it moves towards the sun, so when the sun's gravity slingshots it away, the spacecraft's velocity is increased.

There's a problem on that end, though. Gradually, the impact of solar radiation would start to push TARS away from the sun, and the farther it gets from the sun, the less sunlight it receives (sunlight drops off following the inverse square law, so at twice the distance from the sun, TARS would feel four times less sunlight).

Kipping has a solution ready — it's called a quasite. It's a variation on an idea called a statite, which is a kind of solar sail, except it is designed so the outward pressure from sunlight is perfectly balanced with the inward pressure of the sun's gravity. A statite solar sail therefore doesn't actually sail anywhere.

In comparison, a quasite would be slightly unbalanced, feeling a little more gravity than it does outward radiation pressure, causing it to fall towards the sun. Give it a little nudge sideways, however, and it can keep in an orbit around the sun, similar to how satellites are in freefall about the Earth — always falling under Earth's gravity, but on a trajectory that follows the curve of Earth.

"For a quasite, gravity still wins so it wants to fall into the sun and so you need a bit of motion to keep it in an orbit, but that orbit would be very slow," said Kipping.

This is what makes a quasite stand out: It doesn't follow Johannes Kepler's laws of orbital motion. For example, Mercury's orbital velocity is much faster than Earth's because it is much closer to the sun. A quasite, on the other hand, could orbit the sun at the same distance as Mercury but with the slower pace of Earth.

Being a quasite would prevent TARS from being pushed away from the sun, allowing TARS to maintain its distance and maximize the amount of solar energy it receives.

Although, in theory, there is no maximum speed limit; the design would need to grow exponentially in size if trying to reach relativistic velocities that are a significant fraction of the speed of light. In reality, by combining quasites with the Oberth effect, graphene construction, an electromagnetic field and something to initially spin TARS up (such as a laser), a tiny spacecraft released from TARS could reach a velocity of up to 620 miles per second (1,000 kilometers per second), which is 0.3% of the speed of light.

Moving at such a velocity, a spacecraft could reach the Alpha Centauri system in just under 1,300 years.

"People always say you're never going to reach Alpha Centauri in your lifetime, but in a way, who cares?" said Kipping. "To me, it seems very selfish to insist that any space system we build has to reach its entire completion cycle in a human lifetime. What we're trying to do is leave a better world for the people that come after us, and this task of going interstellar and exploring the universe, it's a progressive, multi-generational activity. As long as we can get there, get photos and get them back, then it's worth doing."

TARS is of course still only a paper concept right now, but Kipping revealed that he has received interest from some private spaceflight companies offering space on their next launch for free if he can supply a cubesat-sized prototype of TARS.

"I've had to take a rain-check on that as we don't have anything to launch!" said Kipping. "Maybe in the future we can take them up on that offer. I do think it's the kind of project that engineering undergraduates could build."

The concept that an undergraduate student could help build an interstellar mission is an amazing one, but that is the potential that Kipping sees in TARS. The key engineering difficulties for a prototype would be in its deployment — unfurling micron-thick panels and then getting telemetry back down to Earth so the team could make sure it is spinning correctly and not tumbling.

The fewer moving parts and the simpler the design, the better. Indeed, Kipping has modified his own original design, removing the tether and joining the paddles in a single structure, tapered on either side.

"People say, why not wait three centuries until someone invents a warp drive, I say why not get started now because there's no guarantee of that happening, and generations down the line will reap the benefits of our investment," said Kipping, who has put TARS out into the public domain to see whether other researchers can improve on the design. "My philosophy is that we just need all the ideas we can get; the more options we have on the menu, maybe some combination of them will get us to the stars."

You can read Kipping and Lampo's paper describing TARS in the journal Astro-ph.

Scientists have created an "exceptionally bright" light source that can generate quantum-entangled photons (particles of light) which could be used to securely transmit data in a future high-speed quantum communications network.

A future quantum internet could transmit information using pairs of entangled photons — meaning the particles share information over time and space regardless of distance. Based on the weird laws of quantum mechanics, information encoded into these entangled photons can be transferred at high speeds while their "quantum coherence" — a state in which the particles are entangled — ensures the data cannot be intercepted.

But one of the key challenges in building a quantum internet has been that the strength of these photons can fade the further they travel; the light sources have not been bright enough. To build a successful quantum internet that can send data over vast distances, photons must be strong enough to prevent "decoherence" — where entanglement is lost and the information they contain disappears.

In research published 24 July in the journal eLight, scientists from Europe, Asia and South America created a new type of quantum signal source using existing technologies that achieves extremely high brightness.

Related: Quantum data beamed alongside 'classical data' in the same fiber-optic connection for the 1st time

They achieved this by combining a photon dot emitter (a generator of single photons, or a particle of light) with a quantum resonator (a device to strengthen the quantum signature) to create the powerful new quantum signal.

What makes the recent research especially interesting is that the individual technologies have been independently proven in laboratories, but they had only been tested separately. This study is the first time they have been used in conjunction with each other.

Researchers combined the photon dot emitter with a circular Bragg resonator (a reflector used to guide electromagnetic waves) on a piezoelectric actuator (a device that generates electricity when heat or stress is applied). Together they created an enhanced form of photon emitter, which can fine-tune the emitted photons for maximum polarized entanglement. This was controlled by using the piezoelectric actuator.

Photon pairs generated by the device had a high entanglement fidelity and extraction efficiency — meaning that each photon is bright enough to be useful and holds its "quantum signature" (a useful quantum property) well. It was previously hard to achieve both a useful level of brightness and a high entanglement fidelity at the same time, because each aspect required a different technology and these were difficult to combine in a scalable manner.

This is a significant step forward in developing practical quantum technologies, demonstrating how they can be combined together to create a more powerful and viable light source.

Unfortunately, we should not expect a quantum internet any time soon, as the various technologies remain in the experimental and development phase. Making the photon emitter used in the study also required toxic raw materials, including arsenic, which required specialist handling. There are also safety concerns around the use of gallium arsenide, which the photon dot emitter was made from. Fisher Scientific, a supplier of laboratory equipment and chemicals for scientific research, lists gallium arsenide as hazardous for several reasons, including its carcinogenic properties.

The safety concerns relating to the use of these materials could limit the scalability of the methodology outlined. Viable alternative materials may therefore need to be identified in generating bright, entangled photons for future quantum communications network

The next stage in the development process will be to integrate a diode-like structure onto the piezoelectric actuator. This would allow an electric field to be generated across the quantum dots, in order to counteract decoherence and therefore boost the degree of entanglement.

Although there are many further steps to take in developing a quantum internet, successfully combining a photon emitter and a resonator to achieve photons with high brightness and entanglement is nonetheless a significant step forward, the scientists said.

Now that summer's here, why not take advantage of the fantastic weather and go drone flying? Whether you're new to drones or are looking to upgrade your existing flyer, we've got you covered with our round-up of 2026's best drones.

Drones are fun to fly, there's no denying that, but modern drones are also equipped with cameras so you can capture some stunning overhead shots and footage. With the best FPV drones, it's almost like being Superman!

We've put together a range of models, to suit all tastes, purposes and budgets, from small sub-250g drones to larger flyers. And if you're on a particularly tight budget, take a look at the best cheap drones under $500.

The Quick list

Best drones we recommend in 2026

Best drone overall

If you want the best drone overall then look no further as the DJI Mavic 4 Pro seriously impressed us in our DJI Mavic 4 Pro review. It's stacked full of top features like a fully rotating camera, Return To Home that doesn't require GPS and video and stills of 6K and 100MP, respectively. It's an upgrade in every way on the previous Mavic 3 Pro.

If you're looking for a camera drone, this is pretty special as it features three cameras. The main camera is a Four Thirds Hasselblad which features a 28mm equivalent focal length and an adjustable f/2.0-f/11 aperture. There's also a 70mm equivalent camera with a 48MP/12MP 1/1.3-inch sensor and the 168mm equivalent camera uses a 50MP/12.5MP 1/1.5 in. sensor. In short, it can take stills in a resolution of up to 100MP and it can capture video in 6K up to 30FPS, 4K up to 120FPS.

Its design is pretty handy too. While it is heavier than the Mavic 3, it does fold effectively, meaning you can transport it easily. The battery also lasts for 51 minutes of flight time, although we found it's more like 37 minutes when capturing footage. It also comes with a new DJI RC 2 smart controller which features a 2000-nit 7-inch high-bright Mini-LED display.

The Mavic 4 Pro also includes a host of handy features. The Return To Home now doesn't require GPS, it can achieve speeds of up to 60.4mph in sports mode and it can track targets moving up to 40.3. It also has a normal and a cine mode as well as improved obstacle sensing and collision avoidance. It will resist winds of up to 26.8mph when hovering too.

Overall, The DJI Mavic 4 Pro is a cut above the Mavic Pro 3 and everything else the market has to offer. It's well suited for professional use with its superb camera capabilities and the range of useful features on offer. It's also surprisingly easy to use, meaning those without much experience can get to grips with it too. We think this is the best drone overall available today.

• Read our full DJI Mavic 4 Pro review.

• Back to the top ⤴

Best last gen drone

While the DJI Mavic 4 Pro may have surpassed this predecessor, the Mavic 3 Pro is still a great all-rounder, with features, functionality and camera performance that will suit the requirements of most pilots. Boasting three cameras, you're spoilt for creative choice and although this is a prosumer drone, it's a great option for beginners, too. Check out our DJI Mavic 3 Pro review, where you can discover more about this impressive model.

It features a 24mm Four Thirds Hasselblad camera which captures images at 20MP. Its aperture is adjustable from f/2.8 and f/11, suitable for a wide range of situations and photographic effects, and you can also record video up to 5.1K. On either side of the Hasselblad, you'll find a 70mm medium telephoto camera and a 166mm telephoto, having a wide range of zoom lengths covered.

It features the hallmark Mavic folding design, and like the other models, we found it could provide around 30 minutes of flight time. It also comes with two different smart controller options, both featuring 5.5-inch touchscreens, so there's no need to hook up your smartphone.

The Mavic 3 Pro is very intuitive and easy to fly for a drone of this class since it comes with a number of flight and safety features such as Advanced Return to Home, AirSense ADS-B to detect aircraft, GEO 2.0 geofencing, obstacle sensing and automated flight patterns for video.

This is a high-end drone with many possible applications for both professionals and enthusiasts. It's certainly not an inexpensive drone, but you're paying for the best available and it's priced similarly to older models at launch which is fair. So, if you're looking for a powerful and feature-packed drone with fantastic cameras, the DJI Mavic 3 Pro is the one for you.

• Read our full DJI Mavic 3 Pro review.

• Back to the top ⤴

Best mid-size drone

The DJI Air 3S is a folding medium-sized drone that sits between the sub-250 g DJI Mini 4 Pro and DJI Mavic 3 Pro in terms of price and camera functionality, but it also manages to overtake the higher-end model with some useful new features. It's a fantastic drone overall and it's fair to say that it's one of the best available thanks to its features and impressive dual camera.

The Air 3S features a 50MP 1-inch CMOS in the 24mm equivalent main camera, while the 70mm equivalent medium telephoto uses a 48MP 1/1.3-inch CMOS. As we stated in our DJI Air 3S review, they provide a huge amount of versatility and image quality is excellent overall with the larger sensor naturally being the most impressive of the two.

Video can be captured in flat color profiles for color grading and a larger dynamic range, as well as the standard profile for straight-out-of-camera footage. Video can be captured up to 4K 120 FPS, 1080p up to 240 FPS and 2.7 vertical video up to 60 FPS. Photos can be captured in Raw and JPEG at 12MP and the full resolution of each sensor.

The Air 3S also features advanced collision avoidance, including forward-facing LiDAR for night flying, impressive subject tracking, Off-state Quick Transfer and it can be connected to 4G using the DJI Cellular Dongle 2 and a SIM card for more secure and reliable connectivity in complex environments.

• Read our full DJI Air 3S review.

• Back to the top ⤴

Best single camera drone

The DJI Mavic 3 Classic features only the impressive 24mm equivalent lens, adjustable aperture and Four Thirds sensor to offer excellent image quality for photos and videos. Many drone pilots only require a wide-angle camera, so the Mavic 3 Classic meets this need while delivering flagship performance for a lower cost.

The camera on here is the excellent 24mm Hasselblad camera, capable of capturing 20MP stills or 5.1K video, so you're getting the best-of-the-best in terms of image quality. You can shoot in either JPEG or Raw, adjust the aperture between f/2.8 and f/11 and make use of a 3x digital zoom.

There are two controller options with this drone, depending on your budget. You can opt for a controller with a retractable phone holder or pay a bit more to get a smart controller with a 5.5-inch touchscreen, which in our DJI Mavic 3 Classic review, we found improved the overall user experience. This drone has the typical foldable design of the Mavic range and flight time was around 30 minutes during our testing.

Even beginners will be able to get the hang of flying this drone quickly, thanks to all the onboard flight assistance. The Mavic 3 Classic features Advanced Return to Home, obstacle avoidance using multiple vision sensors and the highly effective ActiveTrack 5.0 for subject tracking. The High-Speed Quick Transfer feature also makes it super easy to share your results with clients or on social media since you can transfer files to your smartphone over WiFi at a rate of 80MB/s.

If you don't need a second or third camera, you can make a decent saving on this drone in comparison to the other Mavic 3 drones without losing many of their other great features and functionality. What's more, the camera on offer is the best available on any consumer drone.

• Read our full DJI Mavic 3 Classic review.

• Back to the top ⤴

Best non-DJI alternative

New for 2025, the Potensic Atom 2 is an affordable entry point into the world of drones for those looking for genuine quality. We think it's the best DJI alternative on the market as it boasts plenty of performance and fortunately, you don't have to break the bank to have one.

DJI is a market leader in the drone industry, but not everyone will want to own one of their models. This can be due to any number of reasons, one of which can be cost. So, a retail price starting at $330 for a standard kit can seem attractive to those looking for a mid-range drone that performs well. After all, the Potensic Atom 2 does boast features and specs that seriously impress.

The drone features a 12/48MP Sony 1/2 in CMOS sensor, which means it can capture images with 48MP or up to 8K. The caveat is that those images are only in JPEG format. It will also capture video in 4K up to 30FPS, so there's more than enough quality on show.

You'll also find some handy features in this drone, like Return to Home and Steady Hover. Sport mode will enable speeds of over 35mph and a level 5 wind resistance means oncoming winds of around 23mph shouldn't affect the drone's positioning. The gimbal tilt is smooth and users will have the ability to shoot time-lapse and slow-mo video, as well as make the most of AI subject tracking and quickshots.

Overall, we think the Potensic Atom 2 is a great drone and great value for money. Sure, there are more premium options available but this will do a lot of the things you want, is very well made and competes with the best mid-range options on the market. New for 2025, it's certainly a DJI alternative to consider.

• Read our full Autel Evo Lite+ review

• Back to the top ⤴

Best professional mini drone

Sub-250 g drones are incredibly popular due to their small size and light weight, not to mention that they're regulator-friendly in most regions. And with the DJI Mini 4 Pro, you get some seriously impressive features and functionality that's more commonly seen on DJI's flagship models. We were hugely impressed in our hands-on DJI Mini 4 Pro review, where this small but fully featured drone is a firm favourite.

Advanced features include Omnidirectional Obstacle Avoidance, improved subject tracking, Advanced Return to Home, and several video upgrades. The drone is easy to set up and fly, which is great for beginners and experienced pilots, while the Mini 4 Pro is a smooth and responsive flier. The image sensor and camera are the same as the Mini 3 / Mini 3 Pro, so image quality is similar, although image processing is claimed to have been improved.

Image quality produced by the 48MP 1/1.3-inch sensor is fantastic given the small size of the sensor, and high ISO handling is outstanding. The lens produces an equivalent focal length of 24mm and the fixed f/1.7 aperture is fantastic for low-light shooting but still captures a large depth-of-field. One of the most useful aspects of the camera is that it can be rotated 90 degrees to allow users to switch between landscape and portrait-oriented photos and video.

Photos can be captured in both Raw and JPEG formats, while with video, you can capture in both standard and flat color profiles, and if you're shooting slow motion, you can shoot up to 4K. Overall, we think this is an excellent drone for users who don't quite want to pay top prices but want a seriously compact piece of equipment with pro-spec features.

• Read our full DJI Mini 4 Pro review

• Back to the top ⤴

Best portable camera drone

The DJI Flip is an excellent option for new drone fliers and is easy to pick up and pilot. It also boasts a host of autonomous modes if you're looking to capture your activities.

With a 12MP/48MP 1/1.3-inch sensor, it offers good image capture; you can get better, but it's still fine for this price-band. In our review of the DJI Flip, we remarked that it "Sets a new direction for beginner models thanks to its versatility", combining its social media friendly features with its usefuless as a camera drone.

Our one gripe is that it's not great in windy conditions, so be warned. But this is still a superb sub-250g camera drone, punching above it weight in terms of features and ease of use.

• Read our full DJI Flip review

• Back to the top ⤴

Best drone for beginners

If the DJI Mini 4 Pro is out of your price range, the DJI Mini 3 is the next best option and even uses the same sensor. This means that image quality is almost identical, which is great news for pilots on a budget.

The DJI Mini 3 isn't an entry-level DJI mini model, like the DJI Mini 4K, but it is the more basic option of the higher-end Mini models when compared to the DJI Mini 4 Pro. Video capture is more basic and the Mini 3 doesn't offer collision avoidance. That said, it's still an impressive drone for the price.

The camera provides an equivalent focal length of 24mm, which is wide-angle and an ideal focal length for aerial photography and video. This is backed up by a 1/1.3-inch 12MP sensor and fixed f/1.7 aperture.

The camera also rotates 90° to shoot photos and videos in both landscape and portrait formats, which is a most welcome feature for photographers and those creating aerial videos for social media.

In our DJI Mini 3 review, we found the ISO handling to be excellent throughout the full range of ISO 100-3200. Photos can be captured in both Raw and JPEG formats. Video can be captured up to 4K at 30 fps in the Normal color profile.

So, while not as good as the Pro 4, which can shoot in the flat D-Log M color profile for color grading and professional workflows, it's ideal for beginners and intermediate users.

• Read our full DJI Mini 3 review

• Back to the top ⤴

Best FPV drone

FPV drones are traditionally difficult to fly, albeit the most exhilarating once you've gotten to grips with manual control. DJI has turned this tradition on its head with its FPV drones and the DJI Avata 2 is an FPV drone that can be flown competently by both absolute beginners and experienced FPV pilots looking for peak performance.

For beginners, the DJI Motion 3 Controller is incredibly intuitive and makes FPV flight as easy as playing a computer game. All that's required is for the pilot to pull the trigger to fly forward while tilting the controller forward or backward to ascend and descend. Turning is achieved simply by tilting the controller to the left or right. Plus, GPS positioning holds the drone in a hover when the trigger is released.

For more advanced pilots, the drone can be flown in Acro mode using the DJI FPV Remote Controller 3 but this is for experts because, as we found out in our DJI Avata 2 review, the drone can be crashed extremely easily. Whether you're a beginner or an expert pilot, you'll enjoy the new DJI Goggles 3 which provides a clear and crisp 1080p 60fps feed of the FPV camera using DJI 04 Video Transmission.

The FPV camera of the Avata 2 can capture 4K 60fps video, and if you're happy to reduce the resolution of 1080p, you can get frame rates of up to 120fps. Different color profiles are available, including Normal for straight-out-of-camera footage and D-Log M flat profile if you want more advanced post-processing options and color grading. We've found the video quality to be fantastic here and there's no reason you can't use the camera here to capture video alone — but some FPV pilots prefer to attach action cameras to the drone instead.

• Read our full DJI Avata 2 review

• Back to the top ⤴

• Back to the top ⤴

Best dual camera drone

With a power to weight ratio that makes flying in stronger wind easier than sub-250 g drones, the DJI Air 3 is an impressive performer pilots will undoubtedly enjoy. This drone features two cameras with focal lengths equivalent to 24mm and 70mm. Each of these is backed up by the same sensor found in the impressive DJI Mini 3 and Mini 4 Pro.

You can shoot vertically using in-camera digital cropping, capture photos at 48MP, shoot slow-motion video at 4K and capture video in standard and flat color profiles. That's an impressive suite of features, and users will appreciate the flexibility of the focal lengths on offer to provide creative flexibility in a wide range of aerial situations.

The Air 3 is a medium-sized model that sits between the DJI Mini 4 Pro and the DJI Mavic 3 Pro, with all three offering similar flight features. It's larger and more powerful than the former, with a maximum wind resistance of 27mph, and is slightly smaller and lighter than the latter, with a weight of 25.4oz / 720g.

The advantage of medium-sized drones like this is that they're more powerful than sub-250 g models and also have a higher wind resistance. This opens up creative possibilities on more conditions, but this does mean that it's not as regulator-friendly. The batteries are also of higher capacity, which means longer flight times.

Alongside precise GPS positioning, the Air 3 offers omnidirectional collision avoidance and advanced return to home, which in our DJI Air 3 review, we found incredibly useful. This is on top of incredibly easy-to-use flight controls, stable flight performance, advanced subject tracking functionality and to top it all off, excellent image quality for both photos and videos from both of the cameras.

• Read our full DJI Air 3 review

• Back to the top ⤴

Best entry-level drone

Nipping at the heels of, and in many cases overtaking, all inexpensive beginner drones, the DJI Mini 4K is a beginner pilot's dream. This is DJI's most inexpensive sub-250 g drone and is capable of capturing great quality video in 4K up to 30 FPS, 2.7K up to 30 FPS and 1080p up to 60 FPS. Photo capture is also available in both JPEG and RAW formats.

This palm-sized drone weighs just 8.7 oz / 249 g, which means that US pilots won’t have to register with the FAA or use Remote ID if using the drone for recreational purposes. UK pilots will, however, still have to register as operators with the CAA. Take a look at our full review of the DJI Mini 4K to learn more about this impressive entry-level model.

Despite its small size and light weight, the Mini 4K offers Level 5 wind resistance which equates to up to 24 mph, and is impressive for an entry-level drone. Flight times typically average around 21 minutes before Return to Home is initiated when the battery reaches 20%. It's far from the best flight time, so we recommend investing in the Fly More Bundle, which includes three batteries.

Unsurprisingl,y given the size of the DJI Mini 4K, the image sensor on board is pretty small; it's a 12MP 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, but despite its small size size we found the image quality to be impressive and perfectly acceptable for beginners.

12MP isn't huge in terms of resolution but it's still enough to be able to print photos to around A3 if you wish. Video isn't affected by the resolution since 4K is only around 8MP and uses less of the sensor for the 16:9 ratio. What's more, photos can be enlarged in Adobe Lightroom the Super Resolution feature to increase file sizes by 4x.

There are several noteworthy camera features here, including automatic exposure bracketing and a built-in panorama function, which photography enthusiasts will no doubt appreciate. There are also automated flight patterns - Quickshots - which will allow you to capture professional-looking videos at the touch of a button: the perfect tool for a beginner.

• Read our full DJI Mini 4K review

• Back to the top ⤴

Best FPV drone kit

The Emax Tinyhawk III Plus Freestyle Kit is arguably the best traditional ready-to-fly (RTF) drone kit for FPV beginners. It's even a great little kit for more experienced pilots looking for some quick and easy FPV fun. What makes it ideal for beginners is that not only is it extremely tough, but it's tuned for freestyle flying with variable power options available.

Take a look at our full Emax Tinyhawk III Plus Freestyle Kit review where we gave this impressive drone a top rating. The kit includes everything you need to get started, so out of the box, you're ready to fly once everything is charged. Plus, the digital FPV feed provides a clear and higher-resolution goggle feed.

Being a freestyle FPV drone, the Tinyhawk III Plus sports a lightweight X-shaped airframe with exposed propellers and electronics that are exposed on the sides. The HDZero camera sits slightly recessed at the front of the drone, while the single 1S or two 1S batteries are attached to the top with a Velcro strap.

The goggles included here, the Transporter 2 HD FPV goggles, are capable of displaying a 1080p on-screen image and can capture 720p 60 FPS video. If video is your main focus, you'll likely want to find something capable of capturing at a higher resolution, but for beginners, it's a good place to start. It's easy to capture too, with the goggles having a built-in DVR that can take a microSD card up to 64GB.

• Read our full Tinyhawk III Plus Freestyle review

Best premium FPV drone

While it may not be as racing-focused as some models, this is a superb FPV drone which boasts a full 360 degree goggle view for that Superman experience. And, when you're recording such a view, the A1 renders itself out of view.

In our review of the Antigravity A1, we praised just how easy it was to use, and its fantastic design and features, which include advanced collision-avoidance features. It helps to have a spotter, but you're unlikely to wreck your A1 while enjoying its impressive image quality.

Still images aside, it can handle up to 8K video, and even without the FPV view, its motion controller is a joy to use and it has a respectable 40 minute light time. It's not the cheapest sub-250g drone around but you absolutely get what you pay for.

• Read our full Antigravity A1 review

Best sub 250g camera drone

The DJI Mini 5 Pro is a drone that offers everything you could want in a drone that weighs less than 250g. It provides stunning imagery, multiple flight modes, and user-friendly features to appease both beginners and serious flyers, offering great value for money. It's also a serious step up from its predecessors in the Mini range.

Firstly, its 1-inch CMOS sensor sits within a camera with a 24mm focal length and a fixed f/1.8 aperture, which allows you to choose between 12MP and 50MP modes. Images can be taken in both RAW and JPEG formats, while videos can be taken from 8-bit to 4K, 4K is available up to 120FPS, which is impressive.

Its modes and features are impressive, too. While flying, you can choose from cine, normal and sports modes, meaning you can prioritize camera or flight performance, or find a balance. You can also take advantage of a rotating camera, 360-degree subject tracking and Omnidirectional Obstacle Sensing. You can also take advantage of automated flight patterns and an advanced Return to Home feature. The obstacle sensing is done through binocular lenses and an infrared sensor attached to the bottom of the drone and the automated flight patterns allow you to video with Mastershots, Quickshots and a free panorama.

You may find it difficult to get this drone if you're from the U.S., as the ongoing tariff situation has limited DJI's reach in the U.S. for a while now. But, at the time of its release, this drone would set you back £689, which isn't cheap, but you are getting a lot of drone, despite its size, for your money. Fly More bundles cost between £869 and £979. Despite the rise in cost, they do provide good value, so we recommend them if your budget stretches far enough.

• Back to the top ⤴

Best drone for children

The DJI Ryze Tello is a great choice not only for those dipping their toes into drone piloting but also cfor hildren. While there are plenty of drones out there for professionals, following our DJI Ryzel Tello review we would consider it an ideal inexpensive first drone for beginners and children.

The Ryze Tello certainly isn't going to win you any awards in the photography and video department with its 5MP camera and 720p video capture. That said, it's still a great drone for learning how to combine flight with image capture. There's no gimbal with the camera mounted directly to the front of the drone.

There are, of course, other downsides, given the price point of the Tello (which comes in around $100). You'll only get around 13 minutes of flight time here, but it's fun to fly and a great introduction into the world of drones for beginners. You can control the drone from the smartphone app it can be paired with. Not to mention, it can be programmed using Scratch making it a suitable choice for kids.

The DJI Telly Ryze can take off from the palm of your hand and be flipped in mid-air. You can even fly it indoors thanks to the propeller guards and the fact it weighs just 80 grams. It's worth noting that the flight distance on this drone is limited to 100m, however, and power is limited so only fly outdoors on windless days.

The drone is easy to use and fun for children especially, and the phone app works well for control. Compatible physical controllers can also be purchased separately from Amazon if you'd prefer a more traditional flying experience but, either way, it remains a fun drone and is incredibly easy to use.

• Read our full DJI Ryze Tello review

• Back to the top ⤴

Best for simplicity

The DJI Neo 2 is the best drone on the market for pure simplicity. If you're looking for something that doesn't require checking drone regulations, has some, but not many, useful features and functions, has a good camera, is inexpensive and has just enough high-end specs to have an enjoyable flying experience, you want this drone.

Firstly, its camera. A 12MP 1/2-inch CMOS sensor allows for decent photo capture, but only in JPEG format. Video is a bit better, as you can capture 4K footage up to 60 FPS, and 1080p (full HD) up to 120 FPS. The image stabilization is a highlight of this drone as it's a dual-axis gimbal partnered with Rocksteady Electronic Image Stabilization allows for really solid and steady photo capture.

Useful functionalities and features include good subject tracking and impressive omnidirectional obstacle avoidance. The Neo 2 also features Return to Home, which is great for beginners, as the drone will automatically come back to you when the battery starts to run low. The only downside is that, with the batteries available, this will be after around 10 minutes of flight.

Internally, you get 49GB of storage, which is a massive step up from the first Neo's 22GB. In real terms, this should give you up to 105 minutes of 4K/60fps video, up to 175 minutes of 4K/30fps video, or 241 minutes of 1080p/60fps video. You can check out our full DJI Neo 2 review for a closer look.

• Read our full DJI Neo 2 review

• Back to the top ⤴

Best for selfies

The highest resolution selfie drone around, this is is an excellent purchase if you're looking to capture your own adventures. In our HoverAir X1 PROMAX review, we remarked that "This small and highly portable selfie drone punches well above its weight in terms of image capture."

You can't argue with its 8K video capture, and its image stabilization gives its photo and video quality another boost. And while this drone is ready to go out of the box, you can purchase a range of helpful accessories.

Couple that with its subject tracking and you've got a drone that's excellent for social media use, film work or anything where you want a bird's eye view of the action.

• Read our full HoverAir X1 Promax drone review

Best drones FAQs

Buying advice

Buying a drone is exciting but can also be an overwhelming experience, considering the myriad options on the market. While there are hundreds of models to choose from, the advances in drone technology mean you're unlikely to find a really bad quality drone. However, they're usually a considerable investment, so it's worth thinking about what you're looking for in a drone to find the perfect fit for you.

DJI is the market leader in drone technology. Their models also tend to be relatively good value considering their quality and the features they come with. DJI has an extensive lineup, with models for all budgets and abilities. Among other famous brands, you might want to consider Autel, Parrot and Skydio, all of which have quality products and unique features.

Remember that if you're buying a drone weighing more than 249g, you'll need to register as a pilot with the CAA (UK) and FAA (US). The process is quick, easy, and relatively inexpensive, and failure to do so could result in a considerable fine.

• Read more: Drone regulations

How we test

Space.com reviews a wide range of products, from telescopes, drones, and cameras to 3D printers and VR headsets. Consequently, our reviews have varying formats depending on the type of product being tested. No matter what we’re covering, though, there are three core areas that we look to test when writing our reviews: design, functionality and performance.

The best drones typically offer a combination of features, functionality and photo and video quality. Testing takes place over several days in different locations, environments and weather conditions (excluding rain) to assess flight performance, flight features, overall handling and image quality for both photo and video capture.

Drones are flown using manual flight patterns to test the connection between the aircraft and the controller, latency between the two, the accuracy of the controls, app connection, reliability and the flight experience in general. Automated flight patterns and collision avoidance are also typically available with these models, so these are always tested to check accuracy, reliability and ease of use.

All testing is conducted in a way that meets local aviation laws and restrictions to ensure that all flights are safe and legal. Drone laws vary from region to region, so you must check local laws and make sure that you're following the guidelines for your country before embarking on your first drone flights.

• Back to the top ⤴

FPV (first person view) drones like the BetaFPV Cetus Pro are taking the drone world by storm thanks to the dynamic and immersive video footage they're capable of capturing. The problems with FPV drones, unfortunately, are that they're traditionally self-build with a knowledge of electronics required, and they're notoriously difficult to fly. Easy-to-set up models with no need for soldering are becoming increasingly available, but the flying difficulty remains.

Learning to drive an FPV drone in Acro Mode takes 50 or more flying hours according to experts, and the risk of crashing, damaging and even losing your drone is extremely high in the early days; not ideal when you've spent several hundred dollars/pounds on the drone itself, and a few more on the camera for capturing 4K video footage.

To combat this barrier to entry that many people experience when considering getting into FPV, BetaFPV has come up with the Cetus Pro Kit. The BetaFPV Cetus Pro Kit is a low-cost kit that includes everything you need to start flying FPV drones and we'll take a closer look at what's included in the kit later in the review alongside the cost of some useful accessories. But the kit itself costs only $229 / £196, so you can certainly begin learning how to fly FPV drones without breaking the bank.

But how does the BetaFPV Cetus Pro stack up against the best drones out there? We've put it through its paces to find out.

BetaFPV Cetus Pro: Design

• Small and lightweight
• Controller and goggles included
• Built to withstand crashes

The Cetus Pro Brushless Quadcopter, as the name suggests uses brushless motors to power the four propellers and these are more powerful than brushed motors. The drone is palm-sized at 117×117×35mm, and incredibly lightweight at just 33.1g. Batteries weigh 12.7g, so the combined take-off weight is 45.8g.

The whoop drone airframe is made of PA12 plastic with built-in propeller guards around and below the propellers, which alongside the lightweight and small size means that the drone can be flown safely both indoors and out thanks to excellent crash resistance; this is ideal because you will crash frequently while learning.

The kit also comes with the LiteRadio 2SE Transmitter, which is a basic yet perfectly useable FPV controller that's perfect for the Cetus. The controller provides 100mw transmitting power with a 2.4G system and supports several protocols so it can also be used with other FPV drones. Plus, a built-in 1000mAh battery provides plenty of charge for flights between charges. In terms of controls, you get two control sticks alongside an on/off button and four switches at the top of the controller. These are unlabelled but you can easily learn what they do and settings are displayed in the goggles.

The VR02 FPV Goggles, like the controller, are pretty basic and are the box type, but they provide a decent video feed from the drone's FPV camera. There's some interference in the picture but this is common even with more expensive goggles. There's no DVR built-in to allow you to record the video feed, but this kit is all about learning to fly so it's not the end of the world. Although people who wear glasses will need to use contact lenses with the VR02 FPV Goggles or use more expensive goggles with a dioptre adjustment/control.

BetaFPV Cetus Pro review: Functionality

• Three flight modes and speeds
• Turtle Mode flips the drone when upside down
• Optical flow positioning in Normal Mode

The beauty of the Cetus Pro is that it provides three flight modes that allow you to build up to Manual/Acro Mode over time as your flying skills improve. Normal Mode is the easiest to fly, and the one you should start with. This mode uses optical flow sensors to help the drone to hover and hold position when the control sticks are centred. It's not as good as GPS positioning with camera drones, but it does make it easier to keep the drone in the air than the other two flight modes.

Sport Mode is like Angle Mode on a fully featured FPV drone, where the angle of the drone's roll and pitch are fixed at an angle, and with the Cetus Pro this is limited so it can't flip or roll as it can in Manual/Acro Mode, and when the direction stick is released the drone will level off again. You have to regulate the throttle with the left control stick though, which takes practise, and the optical flow sensors are turned off as they are in Manual Mode, too. 

Manual Mode, which is most commonly called Acro Mode, is the most difficult to fly because you have to regulate the throttle. You also have to regulate the direction stick because the drone can easily flip and roll in this mode and fly out of control; it takes a lot of skill to keep the drone in the air, let alone to fly it. There are also three speed modes in each flight mode – Slow, Mid and Fast – so you can select the one that best suits your flying abilities, but this will almost certainly be Slow for quite a while.

With flights lasting just 4-5 minutes, the Cetus Pro will land automatically when power is low. And Turtle Mode allows you to flip the drone remotely if it crashes and lands upside down. It's a neat function that helps to get you up into the air again quickly and easily. One thing to consider is that with such a small and lightweight drone, it's not ideal for flight in windy conditions, so if the drone starts to get blown away you’ll need to disarm it to make the propellers stop so it falls out of the sky. It's generally best flown close to you when learning to fly, within 20-30m at an altitude of no more than 10m, so this shouldn't be a problem.

Overall, the Cetus pro is a great tool for building up flight experience with modes that allow you to progress at your own pace. What's more, the LiteRadio 2SE Transmitter can be used to control FPV Simulators such as LiftOff: Micro Drones on Mac and PC which is fantastic because you're using a real controller in a virtual environment where you can't crash your Cetus Pro but flight physics are similar to real life. The drone, goggles and controller are also bound together out of the box, so it's incredibly easy to begin flying.

BetaFPV Cetus Pro: Price

The Cetus Pro kit comes with everything you need to get started for just $226 / £190 via the BetaFPV website. You can also find it on Amazon for a higher price of $280. This includes the Cetus Pro Brushless Quadcopter, a LiteRadio 2SE Transmitter, VR02 FPV Goggles, two batteries, a USB battery charger and cable, four spare propellers, a propeller removal tool, a USB-C adaptor for firmware updates and a carry case. Spare parts are also available if you have a serious crash.

This is everything you need to get started out of the box once the batteries are charged, but since the batteries only last for 4-5 minutes it's worth buying additional batteries and a six-port battery charger and adaptor. Four batteries cost $26 / £21, and the battery charger for six batteries costs $20 / £16. Four additional batteries hugely increase flight times and help you to learn faster, and the total cost for the drone kit, batteries and charger is $272 / £227 which is still a competitive price.

Should you buy the BetaFPV Cetus Pro?

If you're interested in learning how to fly FPV drones without having to spend a large amount of money on a pro kit you're likely to crash, damage and potentially lose, the Cetus Pro Kit is a fantastic beginner kit to get you started. And the three flight modes that build up to Manual/Acro Mode are the perfect way to progress. 

It's a shame that the drone's camera can't record 1080p or 4K footage alongside the FPV feed to the goggles, but the drone is designed for learning how to fly rather than being a full FPV drone. Some competitor models, however, do offer video recording in both the drone and the FPV feed in the goggles, but these kits are typically more expensive than the Cetus Pro Kit.

If this product isn't for you

Learning to fly FPV drones in Manual/Acro Mode is notoriously difficult, even with a beginner model such as the Cetus Pro. So, if you haven't got the stomach or patience for spending over 50 hours learning how to fly, this definitely isn't the best drone for you. There is, however, a way that you can achieve video footage that’s similar to FPV video using a DJI Mavic 2 or 2S.

The Insta360 Sphere is a 360° camera that's designed specifically to fit the DJI Mavic 2 and 2S, where the drone is rendered invisible by the cameras that create the 360° video. Flight is slow and simple, and all of the FPV effects are added in the Insta360 phone app or the Insta360 Studio desktop app. The main downside is that you can only use the camera with two drone models so you'll need to buy one of these alongside the camera if you don't already have one.

The V2 rocket was the world's first large-scale liquid-propellant rocket, developed between 1936 and 1942 in Nazi Germany. It is regarded as a revolutionary breakthrough in rocket technology, with the use of liquid fuel increasing its thrust capabilities and making it the first artificial object to enter space. 

The V2 was the most advanced rocket of its time, when it was first launched in 1944, according to the journal Current Swedish Archaeology. However, the purpose of its production was deadly. 

The V in its name stood for "Vergeltungswaffe", meaning "Vengeance weapon" in German. As the first long-range guided ballistic missile, the Nazis used the rocket to attack their opposition during World War II. As a result the missile killed around 9,000 people, according to the book "Beyond: Our future in space" by Chris Impey (W. W. Norton & Company, 2016). 

Each missile was 14 metres long, 1.6 metres wide and carried 900 kilograms of explosives, according to the BBC. Along with the greater range that was achieved by the liquid-propellant, the V2 rocket was also equipped with a guidance system– something that provided it with much improved accuracy compared to its predecessors. 

Related: The history of rockets

Its automatic guidance system included an onboard computer, which was pre-programmed with the rocket's target destination, according to the journal Transactions of the Newcomen Society. If the line of trajectory was altered, rudders in the rocket's fins could adjust to get it back on track. 

After the widespread use of the V2 as a war weapon, the potential of the rocket's technology in future combat and space applications was realised. Soon, the V2, which was responsible for taking so many lives, was responsible for accelerating human exploration in space. 

Today, liquid-fuel is still the propellant of choice for space missions. The V2 is remembered for its contribution to today's knowledge of distant worlds, but its origins and contributions to warfare aren't forgotten. 

Who built the V2 rocket?

German engineer Wernher von Braun led the team who built the V2 rockets, according to the journal Leadership and Management in Engineering. Having been fascinated by rocketry since he was young, and joining the Society for Space Travel at school, von Braun had become the technical chief of the rocket-development facility in Peenemunde, Germany. 

It was at this facility that he led the design and development of the missile. As a member of the Nazi party himself, von Braun was committed to producing a successful vengeance weapon, according to NASA. 

After surrendering to the Americans during the war, von Braun shared his knowledge of the V2 rocket with the U.S. Later, following WWII, he accepted the role of director at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre. During his time there, he used his rocket-making skills for more beneficial purposes, by helping design the rocket that took astronauts to the moon.

Rocket components

Spaceflight contribution

There are two legacies left behind by the V2 rocket. While one is of disaster and destruction, the deadly missile's technology was later used in a key milestone of space travel. Wernher von Braun and some of his colleagues moved to the U.S, where they worked to develop the Saturn V rocket, according to NASA. 

According to Science Museum, the V2 rocket became the first to enter space during a test carried out by the Nazis in 1944. During this test, it reached beyond the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. After the war, U.S. President Eisenhower moved the rocket development centre from the Army to NASA, to change the focus of von Braun's work.

At NASA, the rocket scientist had to alter the advanced technology to produce a rocket that could stay in space, rather than one that was designed to fall. The team's experience in handling the large V2 rocket assisted the US in the Space Race and von Braun became the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, according to the BBC. This vehicle successfully brought the first astronauts to the moon in 1969.   

Additional resources

For more information about the V2 rocket, you can visit the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum website. Additionally, you can learn more about Wernher von Braun by reading NASA's biography.

Bibliography

• "The Air Torpedo of Bäckebo: Local Incident and World History". Current Swedish Archaeology (CSA) (2016). 
• Impey, C. (2015). "Beyond: Our future in space". WW Norton & Company.
• "V2: The Nazi rocket that launched the space age". BBC Future (2014). 
• "The V2 Rocket—a Convergence of Technologies?". Transactions of the Newcomen Society (1995). 
• "Wernher von Braun and the Race to the Moon". Leadership and Management in Engineering (2011). 

When it came out in April 2020, the Mavic Air 2 was a real game changer. Born out of the success of its predecessor, the new model offered some serious upgrades, including a much-improved battery and some nice new shooting features. DJI's aim had been to build an easy to fly drone, but one that offered advanced pilots and photographers plenty to play with. The result was a drone that feels similar to the Mavic Pro in many respects, but costs a lot less. 

Flying the Mavic Air 2 could not be simpler. From the case, the arms fold out, and the propellers are then easy to fit (taking care to match the color codes with the motors). The intelligent battery slots neatly into the top. All in all, it's a very compact package and one that will probably please most drone pilots.

Its 1/2 inch CMOS sensor isn't as impressive as those found on some of the more recent additions to DJI's line-up – the slightly newer Air 2s boasts a 1-inch sensor, for example – and it lacks some of the clever AI features found in newer models, too. But it's still a remarkably well-performing drone, especially at this price point.

As with most DJI drones, this isn't classified as a toy, so you'll need to abide by all drone regulations in your local area when flying. For anyone who's just getting started with the hobby, we'd recommend taking a look through our list of drone photography tips and tricks, to get the most out of your new gadget.

Mavic Air 2: Design

• Classic DJI shape with simple fold out arms; compact in size and weight
• With a carrying case and extra batteries easily fits into a small rucksack
• Simple to operate controller

The Mavic Air 2 has great appeal in appearance alone. It simply looks the business. If there is a small beef, it is that the uniform grey color does not lend itself to high visibility in every circumstance (but there are proprietary colored ‘overcoats’ available, not sold by DJI). It does sit rather low to the ground though, so you’ll need to either use a landing mat or buy extension legs which will lift it clear of any grass not closely cut. 

Drones of this size are fairly delicate when it comes to their cameras. Any kind of manhandling will cause damage. The same can be said to be true of the total build of the drone. The MA2 is relatively robust in build quality, but heavy handling, for instance in removing it from its case or in putting it away would not be a good idea. Heavy duty cases with inbuilt padding are available, the downside being they are bulky in size. 

With the MA2 comes a new controller, sadly without a screen, but with a cable connection to a smartphone and hence the DJI Fly App. The controller itself is sturdy and lightweight. Apart from the two toggles, which are stored when not in use in neat recesses at the rear, there is an on/off button, a mode selector (between Cine, Normal and Sport), an RTH button, one function button and one for changing by a click between video or camera. On the front right, there is a shutter button, and on the front left there is a gimbal control wheel.

Your smartphone connects to the controller via a cable and here here’s a small niggle: the way the cable is stored suggests that, over time, it might become frayed if care is not taken. The data shown on the screen is easy to read, with the top right providing battery life, and flight time remaining, along with satellite acquisition data. Next to these icons are two more, one showing the strength of the signal between the drone and the controller, and the status of the vision sensors. Data on height, speed and distance from you is shown, bottom left, while video and camera information is displayed on the bottom right. A film icon on the center right, when pressed, leads to drop down menus offering all the options in video and stills operations.

Also on the top right is a white dot icon which, when pressed, leads to menus for Safety, Control, Camera (status), Transmission and ‘About’ which provides details of the drone itself, including whether the firmware and the app version are up to date.

Altogether, the information you receive, much in real time, along with the video feed from the camera, could not be easier to absorb and understand. It makes for a very comforting sense of being in control. Voice messages and prompts complete the picture.

Mavic Air 2: Functionality

• 4K video and up to 48mps for stills, 12mps as standard
• Quick shots, Hyperlapse; Spotlight 2.0; Active track 3.0
• Video transmission with OcuSyn 2.0 gives improved transmission
• Obstacle avoidance sensors

The Mavic Air 2 is equipped with forward, backward and downward sensors, which gives a good deal of protection in both Cine and Normal modes, but not in Sports mode, where the system cannot keep pace with the speed. 

Although the sensors are an excellent safety feature, a couple of things need to be borne in mind. It may seem blindingly obvious but there are no top or side sensors unlike with, for example, the Autel Evo range. It is possible to forget this and, while taking a long slow panning shot, slide the drone into a tree, or even a brick wall. 

The system allows for both braking and by-pass with regard to obstacle avoidance; they work well but beware the limitations and fly the drone by observing it in flight, as well as what is shown on the screen. 

Apart from the three flying modes, the Mavic Air 2 comes equipped with a host of special features, for instance, Focus Track. In Active Track this allows you to draw a box round your subject on screen, then for the camera to lock onto that subject and for the drone to follow it, either at a constant distance, or in parallel. As with obstacle avoidance, care is needed to ensure there is plenty of space for these manoeuvres.  

Quickshots (where Active Track is to be found) also allows the standard suite of Dronie, Rocket, Circle, Helix, Boomerang and Asteroid modes, which will make your drone execute certain flight moves resulting in some neat video clips. The Mavic Air 2 also offers Hyperlapse shooting, giving you the option to control time and motion in shooting a cityscape or a sunset. Plain videoing, as well as stills photography is greatly improved by the ½ inch Quad Bayer sensor which allows for cleaner images. But noise is inevitable with a small sensor and an ISO of 400 is probably the highest setting you will be able to use. Experienced photographers are able to shoot in Raw.

Mavic Air 2: Performance

• Equipped with Cine, Normal and Sports flight modes, easily switchable
• Max 34 min flight time
• Obstacle avoidance system 

Easy to fly, with plenty of safety features and pre-sets, this drone is fun to operate for beginners and advanced pilots. It even features tutorials on the controller, to take you through each step of flying. 

The attention to safety is comprehensive here. Apart from the avoidance sensing system, the Mavic Air 2 comes with the Advanced Pilot Assistance System (APAS) 3.0 which allows the drone to change its route when it comes across anything in its path (again: not available in Sports mode so be careful when flying the drone at its top speed). 

There’s also Airsense (only available in the USA) which applies aero-technology to receive signals from nearby aircraft and to give a visible warning on the control screen. It’s a nifty addition at a time when the skies grow ever more crowded. 

DJI drones all come with Geofencing, which prevents this drone from flying in a restricted zone, for instance, near to an active airport, or other dangerous areas. This feature can be unlocked for specific purposes by DJI, if the requisite permissions are sought and given. 

In the air, the impressive stability of the Mavic Air 2 in windy conditions (up to Beaufort Force 5) means that when shooting video or stills the pilot can concentrate purely on composing the shots. 

The controller also holds its power for a very long time. If you do opt to go for a Fly More package when you buy, you’ll get three extra flight batteries, which means you will get plenty of time to fly the drone and create your videos/ stills.

Mavic Air 2: Cost

Available for $799, or as a Fly More Combo for $988, this drone is in the middle of the market when it comes to price. 

For comparison, the just-released Mavic 3 costs $2,199, although this does feature a duo camera set up: a four-thirds camera sensor and a separate tele zoom camera. Something that’s a little more similar to this model, like the Parrot Anafi – which boasts a 1/2.4’’ CMOS sensor – will usually only set you back by about $700.

Mavic Air 2: Should you buy?

You should buy the Mavic Air 2 if you want an amazingly good value high entry drone which is simple to fly yet can provide you with close to professional standards for video and stills. 

It packs a host of features for creative work, and its on-board safety aspects give peace of mind. If you are particularly safety minded, the Airsense feature, using ADS-B technology, will alert you to aircraft nearby. It all helps to make your drone flying safe and secure.

Mavic Air 2: If this product isn't for you

The obvious rival to the Mavic Air 2 is the Air 2S, retailing at $999 or $1299 for the Fly More Combo. This drone comes with a 1-inch camera sensor and additional obstacle sensors pointing upward. 

Alternatively, the Parrott Anafi ($700) is a possibility. As mentioned above, this offers a 1/2.4’’ CMOS sensor and folds down nicely, making it a portable unit for on-the-go photography.

If you're looking for a drone to get a taste of flying on Earth (or other worlds) this holiday season, you can get this 4DRC F10 Drone for a whopping 35% off at Amazon right now. 

The 4DRC F10 Drone drone is billed as a beginner's quadcopter and usually sells for $99.99, but you can get it for $65.44 at Amazon  in an early deal ahead of Black Friday next month (and just in time for World Space Week, which is on now). 

What makes this drone so cool is its 1080P HD camera which means you can take pictures and record with an aerial view and then transmit it instantly through the 4DRC app.

It is also easy to use so kids or beginners can enjoy all the features that the drone has to offer. You'll have to hurry though, as we're not sure how long this deal will last. 

Related: How to photograph the moon using a camera
More: DSLR vs mirrorless cameras for astrophotography 

The F10 Drone comes with the ability to be remote controlled or controlled via the app — this makes it very user friendly as you can plan the trajectory of the flight, the speed and it even has automatic take off as a feature. 

Two batteries come with this pack, each giving 16 minutes worth of power to the quadcopter so you can have a maximum of 32 minutes of flying, recording and general fun with this drone. The sky is your playground and over half an hour of being able to capture your surroundings from above is a great way to have fun either by yourself or with friends. 

The recommended age for the drone is 14 and above , so while kids could operate the drone via the app with some ease, they would need parental supervision if they were to do so. But, only weighing 1.5 pounds makes it easy to transport anywhere you choose for your launchpad.

Follow Alexander Cox on Twitter @Coxy_97Official. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 

A conspiracy theory claiming 5G can spread the coronavirus is making the rounds on social media. The myth supposedly gained traction when a Belgian doctor linked the "dangers" of 5G technology to the virus during an interview in January.

Closer to home, Facebook group Stop5G Australia (with more than 31,700 members) has various posts linking the disease's spread to 5G technology.

Peddling such misinformation is not only wrong, it's destructive.

Related: 13 coronavirus myths busted by science 

The Guardian reported that since last Thursday at least 20 mobile phone masts across the UK have been torched or otherwise vandalized. Mobile network representative MobileUK published an open letter stating:

"We have experienced cases of vandals setting fire to mobile masts, disrupting critical infrastructure and spreading false information suggesting a connection between 5G and the COVID-19 pandemic."

Celebrities - stick to what you know

Many outlets and people have rushed to debunk this myth, including federal minister for communications, cyber safety and the arts Paul Fletcher. But myriad groups and public figures continue to perpetuate it.

Actor Woody Harrelson and singer Keri Hilson have both shared content with fans suggesting a link between 5G and COVID-19.

Stop5G Australia members have claimed the Ruby Princess cruiseliner's link to 600 reported infections and 11 deaths is because cruises are "radiation saturated." That's wrong.

While cruise passengers can access roaming wifi services on board, these are not 5G services. Maritime cruises have yet to implement 5G technology.

One petition is calling on the Australia government to stop 5G's rollout because the technology can supposedly "negatively affect your immune system" (a claim for which there is exactly zero evidence). It has received more than 27,000 signatures.

How 5G radio signals (radiation) work

The difference between 5G and previous generations of mobile services (4G, 3G) is that the latter use lower radio frequencies (below the 6 gigahertz range), whereas 5G also uses frequencies in the 30–300 gigahertz range.

In the 30-300 gigahertz range, there's not enough energy to break chemical bonds or remove electrons when in contact with human tissue. Thus, this range is referred to as "non-ionising" electromagnetic radiation.

It's approved by the federal government's Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency as not having the negative health effects of more intense radiation.

Read more: There's no evidence 5G is going to harm our health, so let's stop worrying about it

Radiation can come into contact with the skin, for example, when we put a 5G mobile to our ear to make a call. This is when we're most exposed to non-ionising radiation. But this exposure is well below the recommended safety level.

5G radiation can't penetrate skin, or allow a virus to penetrate skin. There is no evidence 5G radio frequencies cause or exacerbate the spread of the coronavirus.

Also, the protein shell of the virus is incapable of hijacking 5G radio signals. This is because radiation and viruses exist in different forms that do not interact. One is a biological phenomenon and the other exists on the electromagnetic spectrum.

5G radio waves are called millimeter waves, because their wavelength is measured in millimeters. Because these waves are short, 5G cell towers need to be relatively close together - about 250 meters apart. They are organized as a collection of small cells (a cell is an area covered by radio signals).

For 5G to cover a larger geographic area, more base stations are needed in comparison to 4G. This increase in the number of base stations, and their proximity to humans, is one factor that may stir unfounded fears about 5G's potential health impacts.

Your phone may be dangerous, but its radiation isn't

COVID-19 spreads through small droplets released from the nose or mouth of an infected person when they cough, spit, sneeze, talk or exhale. Transmission occurs when the droplets come into contact with the nose, eyes or mouth of a healthy person.

So if an infectious person speaks through a phone held near their mouth, enough infectious droplets may land on its surface to make it capable of spreading the virus. This is why it's not advisable to share mobiles during a pandemic. You should also regularly disinfect your mobile.

Read more: Can I get coronavirus from mail or package deliveries? Should I disinfect my phone?

Why are we having this discussion?

To many of us, it's obvious a human virus can't spread via radio signals, and such a conspiracy may be linked to a wider distrust of the government in general.

Addressing this myth is critical as property is now being damaged, and individuals attacked. Physical and verbal threats to broadband engineers can be added to a long list of assaults on health workers.

At a time when millions are relying on fast internet to work and study from home, vital telecommunications infrastructure is at risk of being destroyed. Conspiracy theories have motivated arson attacks on 5G towers in Belfast, Liverpool and Birmingham.

Youtube has announced it will devote resources to removing content linking 5G technology to COVID-19.

The announcement came after fingers were pointed at one video, published on March 18 (and viewed more than 668,000 times), in which an American doctor claims incorrectly that Africa is less affected by COVID-19 because it's not a 5G region. The video remained online at the time of publishing this article.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Steve Swanson is a Distinguished Educator in Residence at Boise State University. This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

As society contemplates going to the moon or Mars, there’s a rising debate as to whether it’s worth spending billions of dollars to send humans to other planets if a robot or rover can perform the necessary science.

I think NASA needs to send both humans and machines. Let me explain why.

I started off my 28-year career at NASA as an engineer on the shuttle training aircraft – an airborne simulator of the space shuttle. During my 17 years as an astronaut, I flew on three space missions. Two of those were shuttle missions, STS-117 and STS-119, to the International Space Station.

The main goal of both of these missions was to build the actual ISS, leaving little time for actual experiments. However, our mission was fulfilling because we were building a science laboratory in space. During my third mission, ISS Expedition 39 and 40, I spent five and a half months on the ISS.

While we were on board, my crewmates and I performed more than 300 different experiments. Some we did not touch, like the alpha magnetic spectrometer that scans the universe for antimatter. Others we set up and the mission controls then took over. For other experiments we set them up and performed the experiment. In some, we astronauts were the guinea pigs.

Hence, we used our time to squeeze the most science out of our ISS visit by collaborating with the scientists on the ground. Through this mix of human and automated experiments, NASA increased the amount of science being conducted on the ISS.

Apollo 17 versus Curiosity

To try to compare scientific output between a crewed and a robotic mission, let me contrast the Apollo 17 – the last moon mission of December 1972, in which Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent 75 hours on the lunar surface – with the Mars Curiosity rover with respect to three variables: distance traveled, cost and soil samples taken. While these two missions are distinctly different – the former being lunar and the latter on Mars – there are similarities that help us compare their productivity.

When it comes to distance covered, the humans won. The two Apollo 17 astronauts drove a distance of 35 kilometers on the moon in the span of three days – that’s approximately 11.6 kilometers per day. As of February 2019, Curiosity had traveled 20.16 kilometers on Mars - an average of 9 meters per day since it began its journey on Mars in August 2012.

Now I’m not knocking Curiosity or its team. But executing a task is extremely difficult when dealing with a rover 55 to 400 million kilometers away, depending upon the relative positions of Earth and Mars in their orbits. If the Earth-based Curiosity team issues the wrong commands to the rover, it could jeopardize or even end the mission. Hence, they have to move slowly and verify every step. That means that something a human could accomplish in a couple of hours – like taking multiple rock samples – make take a robot weeks.

During Apollo 17 the astronauts collected 741 rock and soil samples, including a deep-drill core sample 3 meters long. This amounts to 247 samples each day. I had some difficulty finding the equivalent information for Curiosity. What I did discover was that as of Jan. 15, 2019, Curiosity had drilled 19 sites and had taken two samples without drilling. So Curiosity has taken at most 30 soil samples while on Mars. That is, on average, 0.013 soil samples per day – which shows how difficult it is to operate a piece of machinery remotely. When equipment such as a drill malfunctions, which it has on Curiosity, there is nobody there to repair it. So the team must find workarounds to the problems for them to continue to get science.

Cost of Apollo versus Curiosity

In 2015 dollars, each of the seven lunar Apollo missions cost about US$20 billion. The cost of Curiosity was about $2.5 billion in 2015.

Yes, I am comparing a lunar mission to a Mars mission, which isn’t exactly fair. So, let’s use an estimate of what a human mission to Mars is expected to cost – the number ranges from around $100 billion to $500 billion per mission. I imagine it is going to be closer to the $500 billion or more given that the ISS alone cost more around $150 billion.

If we assume $500 billion per mission – a figure that would hopefully decrease with multiple missions – then a manned mission would yield a better return on the investment. From the ballpark estimates above, we can say a crew of four would be at least 500 times more productive in performing science than a rover, although the cost would be about 200 times greater.

Space Exploration needs both

Now I admit there is a large margin of error in these quick calculations. However, I’m trying to underscore the benefits from human involvement. Consequently, I think the most cost-effective solution is to use humans and rovers together. This is how we boosted science output on the ISS.

For Mars we could have teams at mission controls around the world running the experiments using rovers as they do now – but the teams could do the science much more quickly. That’s because there would always be a human nearby to help out if the rover got stuck or malfunctioned.

Yes, it is more expensive to send humans to space than probes and rovers, but we can’t disregard that humans can rapidly adapt to unanticipated situations and repair and modify equipment, which in the end boosts the likelihood of success.

A human perspective

There is also so much we can learn about a new world that sensors just can’t tell us. What does it feel like? Look like? Smell like? This is how most people on Earth will relate to space exploration. So having this human perspective is vital for generating enthusiasm.

For example, one of the first questions I get from people when we talk about space is simply, “What was it like?” And they wanted to know all the details, from brushing your teeth to doing a spacewalk. I would always add that we never knew how our day was going, because most of our tasks, be it science or maintenance, ran into problems that needed a human fix.

I agree the rovers on Mars have done wonders and helped get people excited about planetary exploration, but I’m sure the excitement of humans going to Mars would be much greater.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

• Mars Rovers of the Future: What Comes After Opportunity
• Why We Can't Depend on Robots to Find Life on Mars
• These Stunning Designs Show What Our Future on Mars Might Look Like

Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Space.com.

Rovers, no matter what world they're designed to explore, tend to be designed like little cars, equipped with wheels that spin on fixed axles. But that can leave the vehicles vulnerable to getting stuck, as Spirit infamously did on Mars.

That's why engineers are exploring new ways for rovers to move on the moon, Mars or other planetary bodies. One team doing just that is Daniel Goldman's lab at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, which presented recent experiments on robot movement at the March meeting of the American Physical Society in Boston. The researchers are looking for ways to prevent future rovers from meeting the same fate as Opportunity's twin, Spirit, which lost contact with Earth when it became stuck in a sand trap.

"You can see that the wheel kept trying to rotate and paddle and sweep, and no matter what it did, it wasn't able to free itself," Siddharth Shrivastava, an undergraduate student at Georgia Tech, said of Spirit's downfall during a news conference held at the meeting.

Related: We Explored NASA's Concept Mars Rover, and It Was Out of This World

Similar problems may pop up on the moon as well, particularly near the poles, which is where scientists have spotted water ice. That's an appealing target for space travelers looking to harvest drinkable water or rocket fuel on the moon, but dust and rock in the moon's surface at the poles appears to be less consolidated than it is near where the Apollo missions landed. That could mean rovers looking for water could get stuck, just as Spirit did.

So, the team tested new gaits for a proposed lunar-resource prospector, including one in which the rover can pick up each leg and swing it forward, like a human step. "When it encounters a risky substrate, it can initiate this walking pattern, in addition to the wheeled motion to get across it, to kind of paddle across it," Shrivastava said. The scientists ran experiments using a mock-up of the rover in a test bed they could tilt, allowing them to analyze all of the factors involved.

"In the most trivial case, the rover will roll, it will get stuck, and after it's stuck, it will add this legged motion in addition to the rotational motion of its wheels," Shrivastava said. "This gait works pretty well, and it's independent of how deep the rover is." That said, wheeled rovers aren't going anywhere: The team has found that the combination of spinning wheels and a walking motion is more effective than just walking.

At higher inclines, rovers can become unstable and topple over. The team has found that in these cases, too, a combination of walking and spinning can help get a rover moving. That pair of motions causes mounds to form between the rover's front and rear wheels, and those mounds give the front of the rover more traction on the slope, letting it pull itself forward.

That's not without a cost, however: The rover is actively changing the environment it's exploring. "Essentially, you're intentionally terraforming in order to locomote," Shrivastava said, "which is quite contrary to what Spirit and previous rovers have done, where they're intentionally trying not to model their terrain."

Despite their exotic aspirations, the test rovers practice their moves in tanks of a mundane substitute for lunar or Martian regolith: buckets' worth of poppy seeds. Without bagels involved, poppy seeds are the right size and have an irregular structure that mimics extraterrestrial regolith, the team said. And it's safer than other options, which can get into the air and damage rovers.

"These poppy seeds will crush well," Andras Karsai, a doctoral student in the lab, said during the news conference. "Regular sand made of quartz, if that gets stuck between the fine gears of your delicate robot, that can scratch it up and cause damage. However, poppy seeds are much softer … they'll just crush down to a little fine powder usually."

• How NASA's Opportunity and Spirit Rovers Changed Mars Exploration Forever
• Hop, Don't Roll: How the Tiny Japanese Rovers on Asteroid Ryugu Move
• How NASA's Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity Work (Infographic)

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.