China launches weather rocket from a drone sub in world first

Scientists in China have launched a weather observation rocket from a semi-submersible drone ship in a world's first for meteorological research. The unmanned semi-submersible vehicle (USSV) was designed specifically to deploy instruments that can hit altitudes beyond the reach of weather balloons. The breakthrough could lead to networks of USSVs around the oceans for cheaper, more efficient data collection, the researchers say. Scientists in China have launched a weather observation rocket from a semi-submersible drone ship in a world's first for meteorological research. According to a team from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the USSV is built to launch a type of instrument called a rocketsonde.