Solar-powered plane sets three-day unofficial world record flight
A solar-powered light aircraft called the Zephyr-6 has set an unofficial world record for the longest unmanned flight. It achieved this by staying in the air for 82 hours by running on solar energy, used directly during the day and then via rechargeable batteries overnight.
However, because the flight was done to test the ability of the aircraft to relay radio messages from the ground, the current world record set at 30 hours, 24 minutes by US robot plane Global Hawk will stand.
According to BBC News, the flight of Zephyr took place at the US army’s Yuma ground in Arizona after being funded by the US Department of Defense as a test to see if it could operate in the field as a spy plane.
Zephyr is actually the property of British defence research firm QinetiQ, whose spokesman Chris Kelleher explained the thinking behind the development of such a craft.
The principal advantage is persistence – that you would be there all the time. A satellite goes over the same part of the Earth twice a day – and one of those is at night – so it’s only really getting a snapshot of activity. Zephyr would be watching all day.
We think Zephyr is very close to an operational system – within the next two years is what we’re aiming for. We have one more step of improvements; we trying to design a robust and reliable system that will really sit up there for months; and we want to push the performance.
The Zephyr weighs just 30kg due to being made from ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre but can carry a payload of approximately 2kg. The lightweight aircraft is launched by three people running with it in their hand and then climbs to an operating altitude in excess of 18km (60,000ft).
The Zephyr can also withstand wildly varying extreme of temperature, with the 45c degrees experienced at ground level in the Arizona desert to the minus 70c degrees coldness experienced at great altitudes proving to be no problem for the 18-metre wingspan monster.
The engineers responsible for Zephyr are now working with Boeing on solar-powered plane capable of carrying a 1,000lb payload. The US military have indicated a desire for this aircraft to be able to stay in the air and in one particular place for up to five years. Which would make the three-days managed by Zephyr seem like just a few seconds.
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August 25th, 2008
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