@coliver said in TPB planning to use drones:

@scottalanmiller said in TPB planning to use drones:

@coliver said in TPB planning to use drones:

I wonder why they aren't using LTA drones for this. Google was proposing this for Africa just suspend neutrally buoyant balloons with GPS so that they can remain in place with some lightweight electric motors.

I thought that Google's were going to drift and needed a lot of them because of that. Google was not trying to remain in international waters.

I think you're right. They had a means of using GPS and electric motors to anchor them in place but that wouldn't help in a lot of instances in the continental US.

Those balloons use the small electric motors to pump more normal air into a compartment inside the balloon to descend, and pump air out of the compartment to ascend. Just by moving into different air currents, it's feasible to keep a balloon withing a limited airspace (assuming you can change altitude, which normally means staying well above airline cruising level.)