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Hobbyists Selling Tesla Coil Kits To Fund Drone Flight Over North Korea
An anonymous reader writes Imagine for a moment having at your fingertips the ability to send a small robotic messenger — a minion if you will — virtually anywhere in the world and back. Sure, you've seen those fun little drone toys at the mall and perhaps you have had a friend that likes to tinker around with model airplanes, but what you are about to see unfold here is genuinely an unprecedented work of good 'ol fashioned American ingenuity. Apparently a group of hackers has started a kickstarter to build and fly a small drone over North Korea and back and is selling mini tesla coils to do this. "All of the money from this project will be used to extend the distance our drone can fly, so the more backers we have, the farther it will be able to go," they say.
From FKP
We do understand that the legality of sending a drone on an intercontinental flight may be dubious. We will work with authorities to try to make our flight happen.
Good luck with that.
All of the money from this project will be used to extend the distance our drone can fly, so the more backers we have, the farther it will be able to go!
Ok, now I know it's a hoax/scam.
Seriously, what is this doing on Slashdot? It's not even April 1st, yet
You can buy "poke the bear with a stick" kits on Ebay, medical and political fallout insurance not included...
You mean they're going to send it from the US, not South Korea?
From TFA:
In other words, we want a drone to be able to fly from coastal California all the way to Pyongyang. This is a feat that would make even Kim Jong Un jealous.
Uh, yeah, that would probably make the US air force jealous if you're going to make it a round trip without refueling. I have no idea how far the big ones go but cross-pacific round trips without refueling generally involve spacecraft.
If all you wanted was some pictures of NK, it would make far more sense to launch the thing from South Korea.
Just to put this silliness into perspective, the current distance and duration records for a model aircraft are held by The Spirit of Butts' Farm, built by legendary modeller Maynard Hill. The model took 38 hours, 52 minutes, 19 seconds to fly the 1,881.6 mi (3,028.1 km) from Cape Spear, near St. John's, Newfoundland, to Mannin Beach, near Clifden, Ireland.
This was their fifth attempt to complete the trip. The longer trip across the Pacific, against the wind one way (the proposal is a round trip!), would seem to be far outside the meager budget of the Kickstarter guys.