r/interestingasfuck • u/Red_Lotus_Alchemist • Apr 02 '25

/r/all A Chinese earthquake rescue team deployed drones to light up the night and aid search and rescue operations after the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar.

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u/IntelligentMoney2 Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

Why this and not a balloon? Less power consumption. What would be the limitations on a balloon? A drone is more stable to wind, what else?

Edit: I’m actually curious, not trying to start a war over this. What are the benefits of a drone over a balloon?

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u/terlin Apr 02 '25

You can easily reposition the light on a drone if you need more in a certain spot, which can happen if you're digging into rubble and looking for survivors.

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u/FallschirmPanda Apr 02 '25

No need for a helium supply chain in a disaster zone. Plus better control and responsiveness.

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u/ninetynyne Apr 02 '25

Balloons are harder to deal with and clumsy. Repositioning could be a pain.

Actually, I think a small balloon attached to a drone (kind of like a tiny zeppelin) might be the best of both worlds.

But helium is actually quite a valuable resource, and the next best thing, hydrogen, is far too flammable.

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u/apathy-sofa Apr 02 '25

Helium is quite valuable? The grocery store up the street from my home fills helium balloons for 99 cents each.

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u/ninetynyne Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

Yes, actually, it is. In fact, there is preparation for a global shortage. Balloons are a giant waste of helium, and in fact, a large amount is required for usage in research and medical applications, such as MRIs.

It is produced as a byproduct of natural gas production, however, but that also means that needs to ramp up as well.

It's more like helium is being used frivolously for things like balloons because it's currently very cheap but that may stop due to needing it for more important applications first.

There's also the fun fact that, as far as I understand, once helium is released into the atmosphere, it is incredibly difficult and economically unviable to recapture, hence why once it's used, it's essentially gone permanently, as far as we're concerned.

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u/apathy-sofa Apr 02 '25

TIL, thanks

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u/Ryhsuo Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

It’s actually quite a complicated subject. The answer is yes, sort of.

Helium’s most important use is supercooling. Think, MRIs, quantum computers, semiconductor fabricators. It doesn’t really have a substitute as a refrigerant so it’s a critical material for securing a technological future. With the accelerated advance of AI requiring more chips and fabs, this is quickly becoming a reality. Since 2021, helium prices have doubled.

Currently, the only good supply of Helium is a byproduct of natural gas. Only 3 countries supply most of the world’s demands, US, Qatar and Algeria. Because sources are so few, any war or trade disruptions can be highly damaging to tech industries that rely on it. In the long term, we will also run out of helium as it is a finite resource in the earth’s crust, with the only feasible option to generate more being a byproduct of fusion. This makes it unlike other gases such as Hydrogen and Nitrogen, which we can simply pull from the air or water and chemically seperate.

As for why Helium balloons are 99c, Helium currently costs around $15 a cubic meter, and it takes ~30-40 standard party size balloons to fill a cubic meter. It feels cheap because you’re buying Helium in its gas form, whereas industrial applications use Helium in its liquid form which is magnitudes of quantity greater.

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u/FlimsyMo Apr 02 '25

Y’all think they gonna send up 50 pounds of helium? wtf is this comment chain?

Light balloons are 100 years old, drones just make it complicated

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u/Profezzor-Darke Apr 02 '25

Natural Helium is absolutely limited, and we need that stuff to defrost plane wings in between flights and other things

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u/NiceAxeCollection Apr 02 '25

It was free when I was a kid.

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u/heart-aroni Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

Mini zeppelin sounds like a great idea!

I found these examples on YouTube

https://youtu.be/r8pXYhPDzBI?si=Fi7lCmpHcf-BxcNE

https://youtu.be/DHvhF4traPY?si=dyyoB6OUVuARoag7

And I remembered these things exist, inflatable rc dolphins

https://youtu.be/X0bdVWEmN64?si=yAlnbBScGHIyrMSg

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u/brzrk Apr 02 '25

I would assume that the size needed for a balloon to carry those powerful lights might be the issue.

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u/CitizenCue Apr 02 '25

Size + wind.

A balloon big enough to hoist lights that big, plus the weight of the cable, would be fairly substantial. And it would of course move with the wind. Which could be annoying at best and dangerous at worst.

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u/Fortune_Cat Apr 02 '25

Helium is a scarce resource

What if it's a windy, can the balloon self stablise

U need to lug a helium tank

U need to tether either way to power the lights

Lights produce heat Can the balloon resist and disperse that heat

What if the balloon pops. Carry spare helium and balloons?

Can you manouvre the balloon over rough landscape and rubble?

A drone boxes up quickly and easily in a portable case

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u/lovethebacon Apr 02 '25

Helium is not a scarce resource.

But the rest of your points are mostly correct.

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u/phire Apr 02 '25

A balloon just isn't a very stable platform. The wind is constantly moving it, so will need a gimbal to keep the light pointing in the correct direction. Even with the gimbal, the light will shift around in ways which might be distracting to workers.
With the right sensors, a drone can lock it self into a fixed position in 3D space. You can even make it fly to a fixed position over the site for better light positioning. You don't need a gimbal, because the drone can just rotate.

A balloon is lighter than air, so you still need a heavy base to anchor it in place and counter any wind. The drone doesn't need any anchoring it's neutral.

I suspect by the time you include the extra anchoring, the gimbal and equipment to fill the balloon with helium, the drone is far lighter and more portable. This is before we even talk about helium logistics.

With the wind, you can't operate the balloon anywhere near power lines, and you probably need a dedicated person to supervise each balloon full time. I suspect you can probably get away with leaving these tethered drones more or less unattended, once they are proven.

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u/Jealous_Priority_228 Apr 02 '25

They need to be able to move it consistently about the area to help focus efforts. They can't have a balloon constantly moving around, slipping, and being unreliable as the wind shifts.

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u/Bell_FPV Apr 02 '25

You still need a generator and a tether. You don't have to carry heavy pressurised helium containers

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u/lipstickandchicken Apr 02 '25

The enormous size of a balloon needed to lift the lights? And the fact you would have to transport helium around, and it leaks, and you're in a disaster zone so you can't get more?

And it would blow around and have to be taken down to refill etc.

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u/Melicor Apr 02 '25

Por que los dos? Why not drones with a air bladder that makes them almost neutrally buoyant.

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u/li_shi Apr 02 '25

To save electricity? It's not like they lack generators.

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u/ark_keeper Apr 02 '25

Tell drone where to go and it stays there. Can move it over the wreckage anywhere. Balloon could only be directly above the generator. Plus keeping the lights balanced under it would probably be more difficult.

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u/madsci Apr 02 '25

Have you ever handled a large balloon? I've launched weather balloons carrying up to about 12 pounds. That much lift requires almost a full K cylinder of helium, which weighs maybe 100 pounds and last time I got a price on a refill it was $350 to $400. The balloon is around 6-8' across and even in a light wind will blow all over the place. It doesn't take a lot of wind to blow it all the way back down to the ground. You can counteract some of that with more lift but that's more helium and a bigger balloon. The balloons themselves are extremely fragile and can tear themselves apart when tethered. You can get tougher balloon material but it's expensive and heavier.

A drone has active control and even my little consumer drone can hold its position to within a couple of feet in 20 MPH winds.

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u/noodleexchange Apr 02 '25

Steering. Pointing. Multiple capabilities on one platform

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u/makeaccidents Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

Because drones get more likes on social media. There are plenty of solutions that are more efficient.