Community | August 24, 2008 | 8 comments

Solar plane makes record flight

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

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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.
Craft like Zephyr might make ideal platforms for reconnaissance.
They could also be used to relay battlefield communications.
Chris Kelleher, from UK defence and research firm QinetiQ, said Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer advantages over traditional aircraft and even satellites.
"The principal advantage is persistence - that you would be there all the time," he told BBC News. "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." [more]
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    Community,   Green,   Earth and Science
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    News,  Green,  Earth and Science,  UK,  5 more
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8 comments // Solar plane makes record flight

  • blackdaylight
    • 0
      blackdaylight  

    • i hope that soon all of our commercial planes are solar/wind powered & actually filter all of the nasty pollutants out of the air as we travel.
      a little creativity goes a long way, but it is unfortunate that the military is the only government branch that has unlimited finds for research & development.

    • 3 years ago
  • Varex_Sythe
    • 0
      Varex_Sythe  

    • Realistically, any immediate practical military application of this will be focused on surveillance. Something like this will not be fast and agile enough to be an effective killing machine any time soon, but it will likely be very practical for long term aerial observations of large areas.

    • 3 years ago
  • fiat_lux088
  • fiat_lux088
  • satanskidney
  • jahona42
  • Varex_Sythe
    • 0
      Varex_Sythe  

    • I'm not too surprised. Many technological developments that civilians enjoy first occurred in some kind of government establishment. I believe velcro was invented during the second world war for our soldiers, and microwave ovens by NASA.

    • 3 years ago
  • Adumbration
    • 0
      Adumbration  

    • It's a shame that this is being used for military purposes rather than commercial ones. But, then again, that's how a lot of the commercial items of today got their start. Stuff like radio, planes, and silly putty all got their start because of the military. Hopefully the same applies here!

    • 3 years ago
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