by DRONELIFE Staff Author Ian J. McNabb
Drone manufacturer and services provider DJI recently announced a brand new partnership with Nepali drone service company Airlift, video production company 8KRAW, and Nepalese certified mountain guide Mingma Gyalje Sherpa to conduct the primary successful drone delivery trials on Mount Everest, (known locally as Mount Qomolangma). Accomplished in April, the trial was designed to check and showcase the talents of the brand new DJI Flycart 30, which received Distant ID certification last December and encompasses a 15kg (33lbs) payload even on the high altitude and extreme conditions of Everest, one in every of the hardest operating environments on Earth.
Through the test, three oxygen bottles and 1.5kg (3.3lbs) of other supplies were flown from the Everest Basecamp (already at a dizzyingly high 17,000 feet above sea level) as much as Camp 1, at nearly 20,000 ft of elevation. On the return trip, the drone carried trash. The 2 camps are separated by the Khumbu Icefalls, some of the perilous parts of the ascent, making it difficult to hold supplies between the 2 areas. While helicopters could theoretically complete the identical delivery, that is cost-prohibitive and environmentally irresponsible, not to say the hazards of operating in such a chilly, oxygen-low environment.
Traditionally, which means the risks and burden fall upon Nepalese Sherpa guides, who might have to cross the icefall over 30 times to deliver needed supplies. “We’d like to spend 6-8 hours every day walking through this icefall,” said Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, Imagine Nepal mountain guide. “Last yr I lost three Sherpas. If we’re not lucky, if our time is just not right, we lose our life there.” The extremely hazardous climb is frequently undertaken at night, when temperatures are lowest and the ice is most stable, however the Flycart can complete the 12-minute round trip at any time of day, easing the burden.
As well as, the drone could be used to take trash away from the mountain, which has change into a hotbed of littering, with every climber estimated to depart around 8kg of trash behind.
While the climbing season has already ended (its restricted to April and May), the Nepalese government has contracted with a neighborhood supplier to start drone delivery operations starting on May 22, 2024. For more information on DJI and the Flycart 30, click here.