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We're volunteer driven and currently rely on personal donations, so we're scrappy. We could probably justify somewhere in the region of $10k/yr. The jets/balloo

We're volunteer driven and currently rely on personal donations, so we're scrappy. We could probably justify somewhere in the region of $10k/yr. The jets/balloon angle is interesting, thanks - hadn't occurred to me, and I'll search through what's out there.

marklit 7d ago
See if you can negotiate reselling the imagery they sell you. It might be hard to get agreement with this as the vendor will have you both as a customer and compeditor but if you pull it off, you could recoup your costs and then some. For a few weeks, no one else in the private sector will have the freshness and/or quality of imagery you do.
embedding-shape 7d ago
> The jets/balloon angle is interesting Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but what about drones? Probably would have to get permits most likely, but still might be cheaper than alternatives (although balloons are hard to beat when it comes to costs, not always reusable though).
- marklit 7d ago
  Drones (and helicopters) do have their market as well. A lot of engineering firms I saw would go with one of these two, depending on the situation.
  - Scoundreller 7d ago
    How many years away are we from a cheap drone that will takeoff, land, solar recharge, repeat until it returns to you a few weeks later with a few tb of SD cards of high res imagery?
    - notahacker 7d ago
      A lot of the barriers are regulatory in the Western world. In rainforests you might not have to worry about that, but there aren't many shade free spots to land
    - snypher 7d ago
      Autel dragonfish and hanger and you're halfway there. Will need a fat checkbook (the bird is ~$200k) and be outside of the US.
    - 3eb7988a1663 7d ago
      Pretty close. Sesame Energy[0] make these shipping container boxes with solar panels + batteries so you can just drop them where you need no-supply chain energy. The boxes also synthesize hydrogen which can be used to power drones. The talk I heard from the CEO said the automated swapping of hydrogen canisters was not yet there, but they were working on it. Nothing in robotics is easy, but this feels like a very attainable goal that the military would pay to get working. [0] https://www.sesame.solar/audience/us-military-allies https://www.sesame.solar/audience/us-military-allies
    - flumes_whims_ 6d ago
      Illegal loggers would shoot down your drones?
- smallerfish 7d ago
  We do use a drone when we know of a site where deforestation has taken place. The gap we're trying to fill is early detection of forest intervention, so that we can alert appropriate agencies (who are generally under-resourced) and get an inspection to take place while activity is ongoing.

marklit 7d ago

See if you can negotiate reselling the imagery they sell you. It might be hard to get agreement with this as the vendor will have you both as a customer and compeditor but if you pull it off, you could recoup your costs and then some. For a few weeks, no one else in the private sector will have the freshness and/or quality of imagery you do.

embedding-shape 7d ago

> The jets/balloon angle is interesting Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but what about drones? Probably would have to get permits most likely, but still might be cheaper than alternatives (although balloons are hard to beat when it comes to costs, not always reusable though).

marklit 7d ago
Drones (and helicopters) do have their market as well. A lot of engineering firms I saw would go with one of these two, depending on the situation.
- Scoundreller 7d ago
  How many years away are we from a cheap drone that will takeoff, land, solar recharge, repeat until it returns to you a few weeks later with a few tb of SD cards of high res imagery?
  - notahacker 7d ago
    A lot of the barriers are regulatory in the Western world. In rainforests you might not have to worry about that, but there aren't many shade free spots to land
  - snypher 7d ago
    Autel dragonfish and hanger and you're halfway there. Will need a fat checkbook (the bird is ~$200k) and be outside of the US.
  - 3eb7988a1663 7d ago
    Pretty close. Sesame Energy[0] make these shipping container boxes with solar panels + batteries so you can just drop them where you need no-supply chain energy. The boxes also synthesize hydrogen which can be used to power drones. The talk I heard from the CEO said the automated swapping of hydrogen canisters was not yet there, but they were working on it. Nothing in robotics is easy, but this feels like a very attainable goal that the military would pay to get working. [0] https://www.sesame.solar/audience/us-military-allies https://www.sesame.solar/audience/us-military-allies
  - flumes_whims_ 6d ago
    Illegal loggers would shoot down your drones?
smallerfish 7d ago
We do use a drone when we know of a site where deforestation has taken place. The gap we're trying to fill is early detection of forest intervention, so that we can alert appropriate agencies (who are generally under-resourced) and get an inspection to take place while activity is ongoing.