DJI makes world’s 1st successful drone delivery tests on Mt. Qomolangma | Partners | Belarus News | Belarusian news | Belarus today | news in Belarus | Minsk news | BELTA
KATHMANDU 5 June (BelTA — Xinhua) — DJI has successfully completed the
first-ever drone delivery tests on Mount Qomolangma from the Nepali
side, paving the way for facilitating high-altitude mountaineering,
emergency rescue and environmental protection operations, the Chinese
drone maker announced Wednesday.
A DJI FlyCart 30 was used in the
April tests, during which three oxygen bottles and 1.5 kg of other
supplies were flown from the Base Camp (at an altitude of 5,364 meters)
to Camp 1 (at about 6,000 meters) of the world’s highest peak, and trash
was carried down on the return trip.
The treacherous Khumbu
Icefall lies just between the Base Camp and Camp 1, which is covered
with ice blocks and considered very dangerous because of frequent
avalanches.
«We need to spend 6 to 8 hours each day walking
through this icefall,» said Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, a climbing guide with
Imagine Nepal Trek and Expeditions. «Last year I lost three Sherpas. If
we’re not lucky, if our time is not right, we lose our life there.»
The
DJI drone could carry 15 kg of supplies between the camps in 12 minutes
for a round trip, day or night, according to the drone maker.
During
the tests, FlyCart 30 flew as high as 6,191.8 meters on Mount
Qomolangma situated on the border of Nepal and China and could carry a
15 kg payload steadily at an altitude of 6,000 meters.
«The
ability to safely transport equipment, supplies and waste by drone has
the potential to revolutionize Mount Qomolangma mountaineering
logistics, facilitate trash clean-up efforts and improve safety for all
involved,» said Christina Zhang, senior corporate strategy director at
DJI, which is headquartered in Shenzhen in southern China’s Guangdong
Province.
Following the tests, a Nepali drone company was
contracted to establish drone delivery operations on Mount Qomolangma
from May 22.
The DJI drone was used to bring down trash like
ropes and ladders on May 29, and «it can carry 30 kg,» said Jagat Prasad
Bhusal, chief administrative officer of Nepal’s Khumbu Pasang Lhamu
Rural Municipality, where Mount Qomolangma is situated.
«We plan to use it on Mount Ama Dablam» in the fall climbing season, Bhusal said of the DJI drone.
The 6,812-meter-high Mount Ama Dablam lies in the eastern Himalayan range of Nepal.
