[HN Gopher] Flying a drone into a volcano
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Flying a drone into a volcano
Author : giuliomagnifico
Score : 195 points
Date : 2021-03-28 15:31 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (petapixel.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (petapixel.com)
| simonebrunozzi wrote:
| I've just discovered that there's many ways to circumvent the
| flight limitations (factory-imposed) that drones have, e.g. [0]
| or [1]
|
| I am wondering why authorities are enable to either shut down
| these things, or sue the authors, or do something about it.
|
| [0]: https://nolimitdronez.com/
|
| [1]:
| https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.just4funto...
| shortlived wrote:
| The "what happens" from the last paragraph:
|
| "The light under the drone was melted, and sensors were damaged
| from the extreme heat. He reports that the drone still works, but
| the vision sensor underneath no longer functions and gives
| constant errors during flights."
| shagie wrote:
| I was also amused by the Reddit post -
| https://www.reddit.com/r/Iceland/comments/mdrz95/into_the_vo...
|
| > So I wonder how many drones this volcano has eaten so far?
|
| to which the OP replies:
|
| > Haha at least 2 that i know of...
|
| which gets a response of:
|
| > This one, and the one before this one where you forgot to hit
| the record button?
|
| and the OP:
|
| > Correct (:facepalm:)
| amelius wrote:
| > So I wonder how many drones this volcano has eaten so far?
|
| Perhaps it's a good way to deal with our e-waste?
| mywacaday wrote:
| Ignoring the logistics what are the downsides of dumping
| toxic waste into lava considering how long the lava would
| be stable once it has cooled?
| dotancohen wrote:
| I think that Sauron has voiced objection.
| BenjiWiebe wrote:
| Toxic waste getting vaporized would be my biggest
| concern.
| evan_ wrote:
| If you dump something radioactive into a volcano, now you
| have a radioactive volcano, which is not better
| khuey wrote:
| The vast majority of "toxic waste" is chemically toxic
| not radioactive.
| ericbarrett wrote:
| The first problem is there's not enough lava. Per a few
| sources there have been about 6 billion tons/tonnes of
| solid plastic waste since the mid-20th century; assuming
| the density of PVC, .05 g/cm^3, my napkin math says this
| is over 100 _cubic kilometers_ of plastic waste, or
| enough to build a small volcano on its own.
|
| (edit) You said "ignoring the logistics" so I agree with
| the other commenter, the outgassing of the burning would
| be environmentally devastating. Lava doesn't instantly
| vaporize things:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXJfg_JIUZA
| Someone wrote:
| Nitpick: PVC sinks in water. That would make it over
| 1g/cm3.
|
| Polypropylene and polyethylene do float, but don't come
| near 0.05g/cm3. They're closer to 0.9g/cm3
| (https://www.plasticseurope.org/en/about-plastics/what-
| are-pl...). That's close to icebergs.
| ericbarrett wrote:
| You are right, seems I had a bad source--density is
| closer to 1.1-1.5 g/cm^3 than the 0.5 I used. So only 50
| cubic km...
| karamanolev wrote:
| In your post you mentioned 0.05, so that's not a factor
| of 3 off of 1.5, but instead a factor of 30...
| imesh wrote:
| There is certainly enough lava. The eruption that
| occurred in 2018 in my home town produced 1 billion cubic
| yards or 914402.757839 cubic kilometers.
|
| https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vsc/file_mngr/file-224/OVERVIE
| W_K...
|
| I imaging the outgassing of the plastic would be pretty
| terrible but the volcanic gas is pretty damaging too. But
| yes, I imagine there are a hundred different reasons this
| wouldn't really work out.
| jakobbuis wrote:
| Man discovers lava is hot.
| vbezhenar wrote:
| I wonder how much those amateur videos helps real science. Is
| there anything useful for science to be extracted from that
| video? I personally think, that modern society with lots of
| powerful gadgets available and with power of the Internet
| provides a lot of data which waits to be processed by a competent
| scientists, but may be I'm overestimating it.
| spaetzleesser wrote:
| As far as I know there are a lot of amateur astronomers that
| are making meaningful contributions. This video feels more like
| a cool stunt that won't give new insights.
| serial_dev wrote:
| It might be a stunt, but it also encourages experiments which
| is helpful for scientists (and even in software, product
| development, advertising, business, etc).
| dylan604 wrote:
| to me, if the scientists wanted footage, they'd rent a real
| helicopter and use real cameras with really nice lenses so they
| can hover at a nice safe and comfortable distance, yet still
| get the footage needed.
|
| flying a $1k toy into high temperatures is just an attempt at a
| stock fotog to get some footage and some publicity. science was
| nowhere near on the agenda. the guy runs a stock photo company
| specializing in aerials.
| mr_woozy wrote:
| There have been scientists at the site at Geldingadalir since
| the first day of eruption as well as helicopter flyovers.
| BurningFrog wrote:
| Not sure there is a safe distance above an erupting
| volcano...
|
| I'm sure you can use a better camera, but I think in 2021,
| you definitely use unmanned drones.
| dylan604 wrote:
| If it's not safe enough to fly a helicopter, it would also
| mean it's not safe enough to be close enough to fly a $1k
| drone, legally.
| imesh wrote:
| They certainly do it, haven't heard of any accidents yet:
| https://www.bigislandhelicoptertours.com/
| giovannibonetti wrote:
| At least the video game industry should benefit from this, as
| they'll be able to create more realistic simulations.
| dukeofdoom wrote:
| I remember this guy flying a drone over a whole in a lake. Its
| been a long time, maybe someone else has seen it. Its like a
| whole in the middle of a lake, and water floats in. So I guess it
| some ways its like the exact opposite of this video.
| gspr wrote:
| I'm sorry, but I'm having a really hard time comprehending what
| you're saying here. Can you elaborate?
| whoisburbansky wrote:
| I'm assuming the parent is talking about Lake Berryessa:
| https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/lake-
| berr...
| stevensm wrote:
| I think he is referring to this video:
| https://youtu.be/VVw5XCUxgfk
| [deleted]
| Havoc wrote:
| I'm sure DJI will send him a new one as a thanks for the
| advertising.
| netol wrote:
| That was annoying. Totally unbrowsable
| ExcavateGrandMa wrote:
| it would have been terrible to expect anything else...
|
| :D
| bitdivision wrote:
| Another one of these videos [0] popped up on reddit [1] the other
| day. This time with an FPV quad. I think it's a better video,
| though no report on the damage.
|
| 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pMO5b3c9YY
|
| 2:
| https://www.reddit.com/r/fpv/comments/mckrbz/a_different_vie...
| MiniGod wrote:
| Hey, that's me flying the drone!
|
| There was absolutely no heat damage. I assume it's because we
| were in the heat for such a short time, and the air temperature
| was below freezing that day. Also, the drone flies pretty fast.
| Regardless, I was genuinely surprised that there was no damage.
|
| If you like the linked video, you should see how it looked a
| night: instagram.com/icelandaerials
| ourmandave wrote:
| Warranty void if seal broken or roasted off.
| jcims wrote:
| I have terrible luck with drones, and with my most recent
| purchase bought DJI's refresh program. There's an upfront cost
| that I can't recall, then for up to two occasions they will
| replace your drone for $70 regardless of what happens. It
| probably runs more for the Mavic 2 than my Mavic Air 2, but for
| me it's nice insurance.
| kcmastrpc wrote:
| That's great until you get your drone stuck up in a tree on a
| hillside somewhere.
| fastball wrote:
| What do you mean?
|
| User: "I lost my drone."
|
| Mavic: "Ok here's a new one."
| albertshin wrote:
| pretty sure when I bought the refresh package in 2019 they
| still required you send the "corpse" to get a replacement
| jcims wrote:
| They added flyaway coverage it seems. It's a little
| pricey but I can understand why -
| https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/26/22251294/dji-mavic-
| air-mi...
| glitchcrab wrote:
| This is correct - they'll ship you a replacement when you
| report the loss but you still have to return the
| casualty.
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(page generated 2021-03-28 23:00 UTC)