Ex-NASA engineer to plant one billion trees using drones

Oxford-based start-up BioCarbon Engineering, founded by former NASA engineer Lauren Fletcher, is planning to fight industrial deforestation by planting 1 billion trees a year using drones.

In a video made by the company, BioCarbon Engineering explains that the drones would first fly above a selected area, map its level of deforestation and report back its potential for reforestation. Then automated planting drones carrying seed pods would fly one to two meters above the ground, following a pre-determined planting pattern, and fire germinated seeds into the soil.