Amazon Patents a Floating Drone Warehouse

A dirigible-shaped mothership, possibly similar to the one pictured above, could one day house Amazon's fleet of delivery drones, the BBC reports. It would glide around the globe at altitudes of up to 45,000 feet, making it possible for packages to be delivered just a few minutes after someone places an order.

In a patent awarded earlier this year and discovered by analyst Zoe Leavitt this week, Amazon describes its invention, which it refers to as an "airborne fulfillment center." The chief benefit over warehouses on the ground is the ability to be redirected to areas where Amazon is experiencing high order volumes.

The floating warehouse could even hover over an event like a football game, the patent filing explains, dispatching drones to deliver food or souvenirs. Some drones could be pre-loaded with high-demand items, reducing delivery times even further.

"The speed of delivery provides near instant gratification to users for item purchases and greatly increases the breadth of items that can be delivered," according to the patent filing.

Amazon and other tech companies file a veritable fire house of patents, including one that was approved just last week to stop delivery drones from being shot down, and there's no guarantee that any of them will turn into actual products. But despite the fanciful nature of a floating warehouse and drone dispatch facility, the idea follows a model that Amazon already employs: concentrate products that people are likely to order in one place to cut down delivery times.

In addition to Amazon lockers and two-hour delivery via courier for a limited selection of products, the company also has centers at universities that can offer Prime members the ability to pick up virtually any product sold and fulfilled by Amazon the same day they order it.

And Amazon isn't the only logistics company to come up with seemingly outlandish ideas to reduce delivery times. FedEx spends $30,000 to send an empty plane into the air every day, often with no fixed destination, able to be rerouted wherever shipment volume is highest.