Record breaking solar flight

[zik]

82 hours is pretty impressive for solar flight:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7577493.stm

A UK-built solar-powered plane has set an unofficial world endurance record for a flight by an unmanned aircraft.

The Zephyr-6, as it is known, stayed aloft for more than three days, running through the night on batteries it had recharged in sunlight.

The flight was a demonstration for the US military, which is looking for new types of technology to support its troops on the ground.
...
The latest flight was conducted at the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.

The Zephyr flew non-stop for 82 hours, 37 minutes.

That time beats the current official world record for unmanned flight set by the US robot plane Global Hawk - of 30 hours, 24 minutes - and even Zephyr's own previous best of 54 hours achieved last year.

[Gary Mortimer]

And its such a beautifully simple design.

[Lomcevac]

Some of the Zephyr team hang out on here occasionaly. ;)

[c_matt92]

It really is cool, but I don't understand the desire to use it to hang over one spot for 5 years at the elevation it is at. Why not just use one of the thousands of satellites that we have in space already? Does it produce better pictures or is it more maneuverable once they decide that they want to look at another spot? I'm not trying to put down their work, just uninformed and the article left some to be desired.

[eddymoore]

To launch a satellite:

Equipment: A rocket.
Cost: $200,000,000

To launch a zephyr:

Equipment: Two blokes.
Cost: Two beers.

[typicalaimster]

Congratz to the team on the new unofficial record!

[rchant]

there was a tv program on BBC4 in the UK a few days back, if you are in the uk you can see it on BBC i player at;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00d62qx/

scroll to timestamp 50:00 and watch till the end, some interresting info and footage.

[Lomcevac]

You modest boy Rich :rolleyes:

[Lomcevac]

It really is cool, but I don't understand the desire to use it to hang over one spot for 5 years at the elevation it is at. Why not just use one of the thousands of satellites that we have in space already? Does it produce better pictures or is it more maneuverable once they decide that they want to look at another spot? I'm not trying to put down their work, just uninformed and the article left some to be desired.

Yes, much better for pictures and communications and re-taskable and of course cheaper.

[Gary Mortimer]

Well when can us UK based types arrange a site visit then???

Congrats chaps, very impressive.

Guess that new block of airspace above 80 to the South of Salisbury Plain is going to be for you blokes.

And as I said before a beautifully simple design, but I'm sure as with anything that looks simple and easy to do its the product of many late nights and cutting edge technology, with a dash of Wallace and Gromit.

Hopback Summer Lightning all around. (Are they still brewing from that little place in the centre of town??)

[Taipan1]

Hi Guys,

Have a simple question. For the relativly small increase in weight of the current generation of solar cells, why are more UAV's not either being powered (supplimentary) or using them to generate additional onboard power to take the load off the engine.

I think the Zephyr has proven the commercial and functional viability, am I missing something?
Taipan



Some of the Zephyr team hang out on here occasionaly. ;)

[Taipan1]

As a follow on, how much would it cost to build a Zephyr, pure material cost?


Yes, much better for pictures and communications and re-taskable and of course cheaper.

[Lomcevac]

Hi Taipan
You could ask why don't they put solar panels on cars. I think that the power available from the surface area of a typical UAV compared to the power requirements makes it just not worth bothering. If you have a very long endurance system then there may be some worth in it but solar power is somewhat fickle. Don't forget that Zephyr is designed to operate above the weather where the sun is pretty reliable. Also integrating solar cells into the surface of an aircraft is no easy task. Operationally they are delicate but need to be on the surface so are not easy to handle.

In terms of cost, there really isn't an answer. Zephyr costs a fair bit to put together but it uses technologies unique to the project which just aren't available on the market. The manufacturing techniques that produce a structure light enough are an essential part of the successful and somewhat closely guarded formula.