Solar Powered Aircraft Takes 24-Hour Test Flight

[engine]

Solar Powered Aircraft Takes 24-Hour Test Flight [news.bbc.co.uk]

An experimental aircraft that draws its power from the sun is making a round-the-clock test flight.

The aim is to assess whether the plane can fly in darkness, using solar cells on its wings to generate enough power to stay in the air for 24 hours.

The result of this will be very interesting.

[engine]

Well, I was interested, even if no one else was.

Solar-powered plane lands safely after 26-hour flight [news.bbc.co.uk]

An experimental solar-powered aircraft launched on Wednesday has landed safely in Switzerland after successfully flying through the night.

This is quite an exciting development. Well done to the developers.

[Mark_A]

Cool. It was a heck of a spindly thing, but well done them.

[engine]

Zephyr solar plane flies 7 days non-stop [bbc.co.uk]

The UK-built Zephyr solar-powered plane has smashed the endurance record for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The craft took off from the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona at 1440 BST (0640 local time) last Friday and is still in the air.

Its non-stop operation, day and night, means it has now gone five times longer than the official mark recognised by the world air sports federation.

"Zephyr is basically the first 'eternal aircraft'," he told BBC News.

Another great developement.

[J_RaD]

hm great, unmanned aircraft that never need to land.

[SevenCubed]

Innovations in aviation always interest me and I'm glad to see attempts to get us away from fossil fuels for so many reasons. But, I think if we are to truly make significant progress it's going to be in the form of electromagnetic propulsion. I've seen more and more interest in perpetual motion technologies lately. I hope enough of it sprouts up so those with deep pockets (or wells) eventually cannot suppress it all and something makes it's way into mass production.

"We had five people lift it above their heads, start running and it just lifted away into the sky"

Ummmmmm, that doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy -- so lite and yet such a very large wing span and surface area surely must make it very unstable in low altitude turbulence. But I suppose it will have it's application somewhere. Why else would the military be interested in it :(

I say put it through an acid test! Whack floats on it, strap a bush pilot to the fuselage -- tell him to not cover the bottom left corner of the fuselage with his hand (or else wrap his hand in duct tape if he has to) or else it will loose power, and get it to do touch and go's on glassy water conditions on some remote mosquito infested lake in the far north. If it doesn't cough up a fur ball and quit -- certify it airworthy and pin some wings on the test pilot :)

In all seriousness though, I happy to see the spirit of innovation is alive and well, congrats to the developers.

Happy weekend everyone!