DJI tests drone delivery on Everest

Chinese drone manufacturer DJI successfully completed drone delivery trials on Mount Everest in April.

[caption id="attachment_57143879" align="alignright" width="300"] A DJI drone carries equipment from Everest Base Camp to Camp 1. (Courtesy/DJI)[/caption] The DJI FlyCart 30 drone carried three oxygen bottles and 1.5 kilograms of other supplies from Everest Base Camp at 5,300 meters above sea level (ASL) to Camp 1 at 6,000 meters ASL, according to a release from DJI last month. On the return trip, the drone carried trash down the mountain.

DJI teamed up with Nepalese drone service company Airlift , video production company 8KRAW and Nepalese certified mountain guide Mingma Gyalje Sherpa for this trial.

“The ability to safely transport equipment, supplies and waste by drone has the potential to revolutionize Everest mountaineering logistics, facilitate trash cleanup efforts and improve safety for all involved,” DJI Senior Corporate Strategy Director Christina Zhang said in the release.

Drone designed for rough conditions The DJI FlyCart 30 can carry a 15-kilogram payload, according to the release, at:

Temperatures ranging from -15 C to 5 C; Wind speeds up to 15 meters per second (m/s), or 33.5 mph; and Altitudes of more than 6,000 meters ASL. Before the Everest trial, DJI conducted multiple tests on the drone, according to the release, including:

Unloaded hover; Wind resistance; Low temperature ; and Weight capacity. “When we designed the DJI FlyCart 30, we wanted to create a delivery drone that could fly further while carrying heavy payloads in extreme weather and terrains,” a DJI spokesperson told Air Cargo Next . “The platform was designed with extensive system and sensor redundancies to maximize flight safety and reliability. These include flight control sensors, the propulsion system, dual intelligent flight batteries, image transmission links and dual remote controllers.

“In high-altitude regions, where atmospheric pressure is low and air density is reduced, sufficient propeller lifting force is very important,” the spokesperson said. “For the drone’s design, we adopted a coaxial four-axis, eight-blade, multi-rotor configuration with carbon fiber propellers [that] can achieve a 20 m/s maximum flight speed. These standard propellers are optimized for altitudes from zero to 6,000 meters and support flight up to 3,000 meters with a 30-kilogram payload.”

The drone uses self-heating batteries to combat the effects of Everest’s frigid atmosphere and can, in emergencies, deploy a parachute to ensure a safer landing, according to the spokesperson.

“Throughout the Everest delivery drone trials, FlyCart 30 demonstrated excellent product performance, [achieving] a maximum flight altitude of 6,191.8 meters on Mount Everest, and it could carry a 15-kilogram payload steadily in areas at 6,000 meters ASL,” the spokesperson said. “No drones were lost or damaged during the entire test.”

Speeding up the process While it would take a sherpa six to eight hours to go from Everest Base Camp to Camp 1, the drone completed the round trip in 12 minutes, according to the release.

[caption id="attachment_57143878" align="alignright" width="300"] A DJI drone flies up Mt. Everest in a trial run. (Courtesy/DJI)[/caption] “During this Everest delivery test, the DJI FlyCart 30 used a dual battery configuration,” the spokesperson said. “It achieved an excellent result with 43% remaining battery power after a 12-minute round trip transporting cargo over the plateau terrain. Based on the current test routes, a single round-trip loaded flight consumes about 57% of the power.”

Everest Base Camp is equipped with generators and other tools for charging the drones if the sherpa guides implement their use beyond this trial, and the drone’s battery supports a hot-swapping function that allows for fast replacement, according to the release.

“With nearly half of the battery power remaining, the DJI FlyCart 30 is poised to tackle longer, more challenging routes in the future,” the spokesperson said.

Making the climb safer Everest Base Camp and Camp 1 are separated by the Khumbu Icefall, “one of the most perilous stages of the ascent,” the release stated.

Transporting supplies and clearing trash on Everest is traditionally the responsibility of local sherpa guides, who may need to cross the icefall more than 30 times in a season to transport supplies such as oxygen bottles, gas canisters, tents, food and ropes, according to the release.

Additionally, each climber is estimated to leave 8 kilograms of trash behind on Everest, according to the release. DJI FlyCart 30 can transport garbage and human waste down the mountain, reducing the number of trips sherpas must make across the Khumbu Icefall to remove trash from the mountain. The National Geographic Society estimates there to be around 50 tonnes of trash above Everest Base Camp on the mountain, a growing environmental issue.

“We need to spend six to eight hours each day walking through this icefall,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa said in the release. “Last year, I lost three sherpas. If we’re not lucky, if our time is not right, we lose our life there.”

The bodies of the three sherpa guides who died last year have not been recovered after they were buried under ice masses following an avalanche. An avalanche on April 18, 2014, buried 16 sherpa guides in the Khumbu Icefall, leading that season’s expeditions to be canceled, according to an article in The Kathmandu Post . The Himalayan Database and government records show that nearly 50 people died on the icefall from 1953 to 2023, the newspaper reported. In the same time span, 318 people, both climbers and sherpa guides, have died on the mountain.

The climb across the icefall typically happens at night when temperatures are lowest, and the ice is most stable.

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