While many drones are now used to deliver medical samples and building materials, their 30-minute (or about) battery life limits their use. This week, however, a hydrogen-powered drone successfully completed a 1-hour and 43-minute over-ocean mission.
The trial is the result of a collaboration between Texas-based drone development company Guinn Partners, Georgia's Skyfire Consulting, the U.S. Department of Health and drone maker Doosan Mobility Innovation — which provided the drone— the hydrogen fuel cell-powered octrotor drone DS30.
Using its temperature-controlled payload system, the drone was used to transport live bacterial samples from a hospital on the Caribbean island of Santa Cruz to a test site on the neighboring island of St. Thomas. This involves crossing 43 miles (69 kilometers) of sea. After successfully reaching its destination, the helicopter's fuel cells reportedly still supported nearly 30 minutes of flight time.
According to Guinn Partners, it usually takes up to a week for a sample of a patient's biosaver to be transported between two islands when someone is flying between them, – and if a disease such as dengue fever occurs, the infection can progress to dangerous levels. However, since it is cheaper and simpler to use a drone, samples can be sent to Santa Cruz Island immediately.
For this week's flight, the researchers followed the drone in small boats, ready to be manually controlled when needed. In a fully automated test scheduled for the first half of next year, the DS30 will fly entirely on its own.