The new Amazon MK30 drone will enter service in 2024 and is designed to be quieter. Not only that: it has also been designed to better manage parcels and rain, or even difficult weather conditions. In fact, it can fly even in light rain and in situations with higher temperatures.
The Prime Air service is currently not available in Europe and Amazon is only testing it in a small circle of states in the US. E-commerce announced in July that its next test site will be College Station, Texas, where it is partnering with the city and Texas A&M University to run test flights with the MK27-2.
The MK30 can fly vertically for hundreds of meters and can carry packages up to 2 kilograms. Compared to the hexagonal drone currently used, the MK30 will be lighter and smaller and will undergo rigorous assessments by national aerospace authorities such as the Federal Aviation Administration to demonstrate its safety and reliability.
Amazon introduces a new drone that can deliver even in the rain
Amazon explained: “As with all of our innovations – Prime, Kindle, Customer Service, Alexa, AWS, Prime Video and more – we create something great and then continue to improve it.
Same goes for delivery via Prime Air drone. Today we introduce our latest generation delivery drone: the MK30. In service from 2024, this drone will be lighter and smaller than the MK27-2, which is the drone that will make the first deliveries to Lockeford and College Station.
The MK30’s increased range, increased temperature resistance, safety features, and its new ability to fly in light rain will allow customers to choose drone delivery more frequently. The noise reduction typical of our drones represents a major engineering challenge that our team is working on.
Our drones fly at a height of hundreds of meters, well above people and structures. Even when they go down to deliver packages, they are generally quieter than various sounds commonly heard in any neighborhood. Prime Air’s Flight Science team has created new custom-designed propellers that will reduce the perceived noise of the MK30 by an additional 25%.
This represents a turning point that we are proud of. We know that our customers will only feel comfortable receiving drone deliveries if they know the system is safe and reliable. Our drone can face new and unexpected situations and still make safe decisions, autonomously.
We have created an innovative and state-of-the-art Sense-and-Avoid system for the industry that will allow our drone to operate at greater distances safely and accurately avoiding aircraft, people, pets and obstacles.”
