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You missed the part about them being dropped from 3m high, while the drone is presumably stationary? There is no reason to believe the tree pod could survive a

by brohee 12y ago

You missed the part about them being dropped from 3m high, while the drone is presumably stationary? There is no reason to believe the tree pod could survive a harsher impact... So planes are out, the helicopters too (can't get that low with trees around, and way too expensive to fly anyway). Drones are definitely a very important part of it...

Someone 12y ago
Tree seeds regularly fall from greater heights, so the seeds can survive. The pods will have a much larger terminal velocity, but I don't see how that would make it problematic to toss them from, say, 50 meters high. Attach a cheap piece of pulp paper (= easily bio-degradable) to the pods as an air brake, if needed. I have my doubts as to its cost effectiveness, too. I can't find calculations on the project's site and I do not have data, either, but I would think those pods must be fairly expensive, or drones incredibly cheap, or places where trees can be planted must be extremely rare for this to be economically the best choice.
- brohee 12y ago
  The pod contain a germinated seed, aka a baby tree, presumably a lot more fragile than a seed. The whole point of the invention is that they get more trees that way than dropping seed from planes...
  - Someone 12y ago
    No, the claim is not that they get more trees; it is that they get them cheaper. I did not claim dropping pods at random would give the same success rate; the thing I question is whether the investment needed to use these drones is more effective than, say, buying five times the number of pods and throwing them out of a plane (or even deploying them with a modified minefield thrower.) Also, looking at the picture at http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article10160598.ece/alternates/w460/3044235-inline-i-1-this-drone-startup-has-an-ambitious-crazy-plan-to-plant-one-billion-trees-a-year.jpg http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article10160598.ece/al..., those germinated seeds aren't large. In my (limited) experience handling such things, they are more fragile than seeds, but dropping them is just fine. For the rightmost two ones, it would help to plant them right side up, but you aren't going to do that dropping it from a drone, either (hm, looking at it, that picture probably isn't worth much as evidence; there's no way you are going to have a relatively small pod burrow into the ground like that from any height, let alone a few meters)

by brohee 12y ago

Someone 12y ago

Tree seeds regularly fall from greater heights, so the seeds can survive. The pods will have a much larger terminal velocity, but I don't see how that would make it problematic to toss them from, say, 50 meters high. Attach a cheap piece of pulp paper (= easily bio-degradable) to the pods as an air brake, if needed. I have my doubts as to its cost effectiveness, too. I can't find calculations on the project's site and I do not have data, either, but I would think those pods must be fairly expensive, or drones incredibly cheap, or places where trees can be planted must be extremely rare for this to be economically the best choice.

brohee 12y ago
The pod contain a germinated seed, aka a baby tree, presumably a lot more fragile than a seed. The whole point of the invention is that they get more trees that way than dropping seed from planes...
- Someone 12y ago
  No, the claim is not that they get more trees; it is that they get them cheaper. I did not claim dropping pods at random would give the same success rate; the thing I question is whether the investment needed to use these drones is more effective than, say, buying five times the number of pods and throwing them out of a plane (or even deploying them with a modified minefield thrower.) Also, looking at the picture at http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article10160598.ece/alternates/w460/3044235-inline-i-1-this-drone-startup-has-an-ambitious-crazy-plan-to-plant-one-billion-trees-a-year.jpg http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article10160598.ece/al..., those germinated seeds aren't large. In my (limited) experience handling such things, they are more fragile than seeds, but dropping them is just fine. For the rightmost two ones, it would help to plant them right side up, but you aren't going to do that dropping it from a drone, either (hm, looking at it, that picture probably isn't worth much as evidence; there's no way you are going to have a relatively small pod burrow into the ground like that from any height, let alone a few meters)