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Comment by z9znz | Hacker News Reader

I care a lot about nature, and I don't like any creature to be unnecessarily harmed...

But the visuals here are pretty awesome.

I think it's a missed opportunity to make it 3D instead of just 2D in the air. Show me the equivalent in 3D, then I'll be impressed.

Curious of how long it takes all 500 to get into position. I know ~30 minutes flight is about normal for Mavic type drones, so just thinking how much flight time the drones in this setup get. Maybe 5-6 minutes to take off and verify all are in position, 10 minute show, 5-6 minutes to RTB and land? I'm building in some additional "fuel" for any kind of delays. Clearly, they are computer controlled (assuming an onboard computer), but just thinking the 500 number is large enough to give one pause on are we in place and ready to go checks.

I imagine that given the low resolution, 3D would have been much harder to understand (identify) for most viewers. Unless you happened to be facing the "front" of the 3D representation, it would probably just look like a bunch of sparse dots.

As for the flight duration, they probably have larger/more batteries than consumer drones since they should be purpose made (carry self, more batteries, light+electronics (small/light), communication electronics (small/light)).

I don't think too many birds were out flying in the dark, although bats may be out roaming around at that time.

Bird migration takes place largely at night.

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