Active volcanoes, for obvious reasons, are hard to study up close. They're dangerous to human-piloted aircraft -- as well as human bodies -- which means footage of active craters is difficult to obtain.
YouTuber Shaun O'Callaghan, however, figured out a way: with a quadcopter. He attached a GoPro action camera to a DJI Phantom and flew that baby right into the crater of Mount Yasur, an active volcano on Tanna Island, Vanuatu.
Amazingly, the drone escaped unscathed -- even getting up close and personal with lava that can reach temperatures up to 1,200 degrees Celsius -- and O'Callaghan successfully demonstrated that volcanoes are awesome.
Also how effectively quadcopters can be used for research where humans can't go. But we'd like to think it's at least equal parts awesome.
Check it out for yourself in the video below.
(Source: Crave Australia via Dronehire.org)