All posts by Jeff Salmon

Parrot Mambo FPV Drone

Why Your First Drone Should Be a Hobby Drone

A low-cost way to get hands-on UAS experience is to purchase a hobby drone and practice with it before making a bigger investment in a commercial-grade unit. I’ve talked to UAS professionals who agree . Why?  The low cost makes it easy to afford and less painful should you crack it up. And, trust me...

Top of the Crop: Pangaea 2017

As December closes its door, we look back at the year think about its highlights. As your Pangaea editor I examined the 2017 issues ranked by readership. Here’s the top three, why I think they were so popular, and the takeaways from each. Pangaea #190: Don’t Buy a Drone This headline was a bit of...

Firebiner multi-function carabiner

7 Gifts under $70 for Surveyors

I’ve put together this year’s list of gifts with practical ideas that any field surveyor should find useful. All prices are accurate at the time of writing; I’m not responsible for price hikes. All items are highly rated (four- to five-star online reviews), but use your best judgement) 1) Yeti Loadout Bucket. Five-gallon buckets are...

Commercial UAV Expo

Whole Lotta Droning Going On: Commercial UAV Expo: Part 2

Continuing with my look at last month’s Commercial UAV Expo, here’s more cool UAV-related gear. Thermal Imaging Drone Parrot is known mostly for being a provider of consumer-level drones (full disclosure, I have three of them). Now they are moving into the commercial market. One example is the Parrot Bebop-Pro Thermal. This quadcopter includes two...

Microdrones Methane

Cool Gear at the Commercial UAV Expo: Part 1

The third Commercial UAV Expo brought together 2,000 professionals from 53 countries and every U.S. state, representing a wide array of industries, all in sunny Las Vegas where the October weather was quite agreeable. The event featured four keynotes, three plenaries, dozens of industry-specific presentations, offsite flying demonstrations, numerous networking events, and more than 150...

Titan

Space Colonization: Why Titan Is Better than Mars

Come with me on a flight of fact-based science fiction. It’s 2024 and you’re strapped into SpaceX’s BFR (Big Falcon Rocket). Destination? Mars! You’ve sold your home and bought a one-way ticket to the red planet. Your heart pounds as the countdown commences. Whoosh and you’re off. Six months later, you disembark and board a...