# Earthbound drones idea

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthbound-drones-idea/712094>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 8, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthbound-drones-idea/712094 "2015-02-08T04:00:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthbound-drones-idea/712094/1 "2015-02-08T04:00:31Z")

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I have an idea, but… I am not sure if they have already done this before.

It is quite expansive to put a satellite on orbit. And some of those satellites have tasks that could be done with a probe that is not flying in space. We could have earthbound drones that are not flying - just sitting around or maybe moving with the power of wind, small wheels or whatever. For instance: Launch 50 of those drones on the south pole to monitor humidity, air pressure and temperature. There are now GPS systems that allow the user to send text messages without the aid of cellular networks. Those “drones” could be powered by solar panels and transmit their data constantly.

Does something like that already exist?

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthbound-drones-idea/712094/2 "2015-02-08T04:16:07Z")

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It’s been proposed many times.  
Nobody has ever gotten the technology and economics to come together to make a workable system (yet).

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**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthbound-drones-idea/712094/3 "2015-02-08T05:31:19Z")

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> [@Artemis\_Tardis](#):
>
> I have an idea, but… I am not sure if they have already done this before.
> 
> It is quite expansive to put a satellite on orbit. And some of those satellites have tasks that could be done with a probe that is not flying in space. We could have earthbound drones that are not flying - just sitting around or maybe moving with the power of wind, small wheels or whatever. For instance: Launch 50 of those drones on the south pole to monitor humidity, air pressure and temperature. There are now GPS systems that allow the user to send text messages without the aid of cellular networks. Those “drones” could be powered by solar panels and transmit their data constantly.
> 
> Does something like that already exist?

There have been a few “Atmospheric Satellites” prototypes, for example the [Helios](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Helios).

_“For instance: Launch 50 of those drones on the south pole to monitor humidity, air pressure and temperature.”_

Those are called weather balloons. 😛

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**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthbound-drones-idea/712094/4 "2015-02-08T13:26:23Z")

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GOOGLE is looking into it with high altitude balloons.

> **[Loon - X, the moonshot factory](https://x.company/projects/loon/)**
>
> Learn more about Loon, X's moonshot in expanding connectivity with stratospheric balloons.