DJI has completed three separate DJI drone missions on Mount Qomolangma, the peak better known as Mount Everest, in an effort the company says pushed high-altitude delivery, mapping, and atmospheric research further than before. The Shenzhen-based firm, a global leader in civilian drones and creative camera technology, announced the results on July 9, 2026, describing operations that played out on both the Nepalese South Slope and the Chinese North Slope of the world’s tallest mountain.
The work builds on years of testing that DJI has carried out on the mountain. Back in 2009, the company flew an unmanned helicopter fitted with its self-developed XP3.1 flight control system, and by 2010 its Ace One system was operating above 4,700 meters. A DJI Mavic 3 later reached the 8,848.86-meter summit in 2022 and captured the first drone footage from that height, and in 2024 the DJI FlyCart 30 ran the first drone delivery tests on the mountain between Base Camp and Camp 1. The latest DJI drone missions were divided across three goals, each handled by a different aircraft.
“Our team remains dedicated to making the world’s highest mountain safer and cleaner for Sherpas and mountaineers worldwide,” said Christina Zhang, spokesperson for DJI. “The success of our latest operations marks a proud milestone, and we hope our ongoing collaboration with the scientific community will further advance drone technology—saving lives and supporting conservation efforts across the globe.” Christina Zhang, Spokesperson for DJI
How DJI Drone Missions Cut Everest Delivery Times
The heaviest lifting fell to the DJI FlyCart 100, a high-capacity delivery drone built to carry as much as 100 kilograms at sea level over longer distances while using power more efficiently. Working alongside the Nepalese drone company Airlift, DJI used the aircraft to test payload capacity, transmission range, RTK positioning accuracy, signal stability, and battery endurance in temperatures ranging from minus 15 to 5 degrees Celsius. The cargo included oxygen tanks, ropes, ladders, and other climbing gear moved between Base Camp and Camp 1.
During this year’s testing, the FlyCart 100 carried up to 47 kilograms while reaching a test altitude above 6,300 meters. In total, the drone moved 10,073 kilograms of material between the two camps, made up of 7,215 kilograms of climbing supplies and 2,858 kilograms of waste hauled off the mountain. A single one-way flight took only eight minutes, a trip that traditionally forced Sherpas to spend six to eight hours trekking across the dangerous Khumbu Icefall. Detailed specifications for the aircraft that carried these loads appear on the company’s FlyCart 100 page, and DJI expects the drone to keep serving the local climbing community for seasons to come.
Over the longer term, the FlyCart 100 is expected to help move roughly 5,000 oxygen cylinders each climbing season between Base Camp and Camp 1, while carrying away an estimated 10,000 kilograms of waste from higher camps that could not previously be cleaned up. Waste has become a serious issue on the mountain, with each climber leaving behind about 8 kilograms of trash on average. The removal effort lines up with Nepal’s broader sustainability goals, including the Nepal Mountain Association’s Zero Waste Initiative 2027.
Glacier Mapping for Safer Everest Climbing Routes
Throughout the spring 2026 climbing season, DJI put the compact Matrice 4E enterprise drone to work gathering high-resolution glacier data in the same punishing conditions. Fitted with intelligent multi-sensors, the aircraft operated at 6,450 meters in temperatures below minus 20 degrees Celsius and mapped more than 3 square kilometers of the Khumbu Icefall’s core area at centimeter-level detail. Covering Base Camp, the icefall, and the area above Camp I, the survey took just three and a half hours, far less than older methods require.
The drone’s Laser Range Finder produced precise, real-time distance and terrain measurements, and the resulting coordinate markings helped teams pinpoint and share hazard locations. Its knack for spotting people and detecting movement against snow-covered ground also makes it useful for search and rescue, a role the same Matrice 4 family has filled in other settings. For climbing teams, that added up to real-time hazard monitoring, safer route planning, and faster movement across the ice.
“While glacier mapping and satellite monitoring have been used in different parts of the world, what we are doing in Nepal is unique because of the level of detail, operational application, and real-time safety focus for mountaineering,” said Raj Bikram Maharjan, CEO at Airlift Technology. “To our knowledge, this is the first deployment of its kind in Nepal, and potentially one of the first real-world operational uses globally at this scale in a high-altitude expedition environment.” Raj Bikram Maharjan, CEO at Airlift Technology
High-Altitude Climate Research Above the Troposphere
The third mission moved to the Chinese North Slope, where DJI tested its first eVTOL delivery drone, the EV50, to make fine-scale observations of atmospheric pollutants high in the troposphere. Over 12 days, the aircraft carried ozone-measuring equipment from Peking University’s College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering on 12 separate trips from a base camp inside the Qomolangma National Nature Reserve. Spiral climbs and reciprocating flight patterns helped the drone handle complex winds and harsh flying conditions.
The strongest flight reached a maximum altitude of 8,861 meters, with a maximum continuous climb of 3,730 meters. It marked the first time the university’s researchers had used drones to carry out high-altitude troposphere observations for this kind of atmospheric research. DJI framed the wider effort as part of a two-decade push to move its technology from camera work into fields such as agriculture, infrastructure, and public safety, and now into extreme scientific and safety applications at the top of the world.
For now, the company says it will keep working with local partners, mountaineering communities, and researchers to learn what drones can handle in some of the harshest flying conditions anywhere. The Everest results, drawn from three separate DJI drone missions, give delivery crews, survey teams, and scientists new tools for work that once demanded long and dangerous treks on foot.
