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Ellis Abel Learns.

In my own words

Why I love drones

A FreeFly Alta X quadcopter drone hovers in the air during wildfire response flight tests near Redding, California. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Drones" page.
A FreeFly Alta X quadcopter drone hovers in the air during wildfire response flight tests near Redding, California. NASA/Joel Kowsky · Public domain
  • I can see from up there without going up there.
  • Four little motors, and it holds still in the air.
  • It goes where I tell it, and I have to be exact.

What it really is

A drone holds position by adjusting four motors thousands of times a second.

Three things to try today

  1. Watch a drone hover and count the corrections you can see.
  2. Draw a flight path on paper first.
  3. Fly the path you drew.
Pilot Jonas Jonsson kneels on the ground performing pre-flight checks on an Alta X drone during Cal Fire training exercises. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Drones" page.
Pilot Jonas Jonsson kneels on the ground performing pre-flight checks on an Alta X drone during Cal Fire training exercises. NASA/Joel Kowsky · Public domain

For the grown-up reading this

Plan the path before flying. Airspace rules and a pre-flight checklist belong from day one.

Why I love drones — 4,299 places across America

Alabama (87)
Alaska (33)
Arizona (43)
Arkansas (86)
California (273)
Colorado (85)
Connecticut (27)
D.C. (1)
Delaware (5)
Florida (158)
Georgia (185)
Hawaii (8)
Idaho (54)
Illinois (155)
Indiana (117)
Iowa (112)
Kansas (116)
Kentucky (129)
Louisiana (81)
Maine (21)
Maryland (35)
Massachusetts (53)
Michigan (120)
Minnesota (111)
Mississippi (88)
Missouri (131)
Montana (61)
Nebraska (97)
Nevada (22)
New Hampshire (13)
New Jersey (45)
New Mexico (40)
New York (90)
North Carolina (127)
North Dakota (57)
Ohio (124)
Oklahoma (88)
Oregon (51)
Pennsylvania (88)
Rhode Island (6)
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (5)
South Carolina (65)
South Dakota (68)
Tennessee (114)
Texas (340)
Utah (48)
Vermont (16)
Virginia (158)
Washington (77)
Washington, D.C. (1)
West Virginia (64)
Wisconsin (95)
Wyoming (25)

Love something else too

Twelve gold-coated hexagonal mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope installed side by side on the telescope's backplane at Goddard. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Telescopes" page.Why I love telescopesThe Cold Atom Laboratory, two white equipment containers packed with lasers and vacuum hardware, on a bench before flight. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Physics" page.Why I love physicsFive labeled water-quality sample bottles lined up in a bag, ready to be carried to the laboratory for analysis. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Chemistry" page.Why I love chemistryA Keyence optical microscope set up on a laboratory bench with its monitor and sample stage. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Microscopes" page.Why I love microscopesAn optical bench in the Laser Optics Laboratory at Ames Research Center, crowded with mirrors, lenses and beam paths. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Lasers" page.Why I love lasersThe last of four gold solar array wings is lowered into place on the Orion spacecraft's European Service Module. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Solar Power" page.Why I love the sunTwo large gantry 3D printers extrude curved concrete walls of subscale habitat structures side by side at NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love 3D Printing" page.Why I love 3D printersPale rock outcroppings breaking through prairie grass in Big Cypress National Preserve. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Geology" page.Why I love the earth

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