4 ms·
If the drone is slow, say 50mph, they still need to throw 7 plants per second. I was a timber in the Australian outback (as a backpacker) and if you plant tree
by tajen 12y ago
If the drone is slow, say 50mph, they still need to throw 7 plants per second.
I was a timber in the Australian outback (as a backpacker) and if you plant trees more than 10 feet apart, the sun burns them up, even with a tropical climate/wet season alternance. Like, pitch black wood. You need them close to each other and minimum 5 rows together if you want a self-sustaining hedge (and still the outer rows are doomed to die early). And I'm talking about heavily irrigated areas [1] next to the Argyle lake in the Northern Territory [2].
I guess not all places are like Australia, but those with desertification and ecosystem deprecation will require many trees at once. I wonder how they'll deal with this minimum critical mass problem. Overall this startup idea is excellent, for example thick hedges for areas next to the Sahara can stop the desert from advancing and revive the whole area within the perimeter, by rehydrating the winds and restoring livable temperature.
[1] Heavily irriguated area above 38C all year long: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sandelholzplantagen_Kununurra.JPG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sandelholzplantagen_Kununu...
[2] The whole page, with climate histograms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kununurra,_Western_Australia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kununurra,_Western_Australia
- Panoramix 12y ago50mph is quite fast. The competition is about 3mph, so 10mph would already be a 3-fold improvement. So: shoot 1 per second, or have a shotgun approach, or simply have more than 1 pass per drone, or multiple drones...
- fudged71 12y agoIf I'm not mistaken, "racing drones" are pushing above 100km/hr
- 7952 12y agoI would be sceptical about using this to stop desertification. The plants still need to be protected from livestock and kept watered. This doesn't solve the underlying causes of vegetation loss that created the problem in the first place.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- fit2rule 12y agoThe underlying problem is humans harvesting wood. >I would be sceptical about using this to stop desertification. Take a closer look at the Permaculture movement and the extremely effective science developed around that scene on the subject of stopping desertification - where this article specifically mentions trees being dropped from the sky, that's merely the outer limit. Grassland-dropping drones would also be effective - its not just trees-as-species, but all the other bio-sphere in between that matters. Farmers using drones to drop mantis-packs is another potential use .. the sky is literally the limit. What we don't have, is the drone systems that can be readily deployable. Yet.
- maerF0x0 12y agoSubsistence farming 48%. Commercial agriculture 32%. Logging 14%. Fuel wood removals 5%. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation#Causes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation#Causes