Zephyr solar plane flies 7 days non-stop

[Elmore Furth]

Source: BBC

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.

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

Their unique selling point is their persistence over a location. Low-Earth orbiting satellites come and go in a swift pass overhead, and the bigger drones now operated by the military still need to return to base at regular intervals for refuelling.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10664362

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On July 9, an unmanned solar Zephyr aircraft took off at Yuma Proving Ground. It is still in the air. The Zephyr has a wing lenght equal in height to a seven-story building, is covered with solar panels and has two modest propellers jut from its center. They are trying to keep the plane in the air for 14 consecutive days. This plane is made of composite carbon fiber, the craft weighs a 120 pounds and has no landing gear so it has to take off oon the shoulders of five running individuals.

[Stumbler]

1. Okay, but does it have military potential?

If not, we in the US aren't interested...

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Surveillance, I assume

It can't carry weapons, at this stage. Maybe that will come later, if the airplane can be made bigger and sturdier, and the rockets even smaller.

[bluedigger]

3. +1

With a weight of just 120 pounds, this aircraft can carry little to no payload. It probably already carries a camera and transmitter, but that is about it. It is operating at too extreme a flight margin to carry any significant weapon. Heck, it would probably have a hard time with a .22 revolver taped to the fuselage....

[formercia]

12. All it needs is a Laser Designator.

and a link to an armed UAV or manned aircraft. After the strike, it can loiter to do a Battle Damage Assessment and call in another strike if required.

[DavidDvorkin]

14. Good point.

[mix]

4. Eternal aircraft,

don't like the sound of that.

[quakerboy]

5. Hyperbole

Its got spinny bits and those are gonna wear down eventually.

[mix]

9. Of course, but

the idea seemingly behind these craft is that there could be a 24/7/365 surveillance system in place above us, much more efficient than satellites.

[Fumesucker]

19. Brushless motors can run for decades, the only thing to wear is the bearings.

Ceramic ball bearings are remarkably good and long lasting..

The motors on this plane are very low RPM, the lifetime of the bearings should be well nigh infinite.

I suspect the batteries are going to be the limiting factor on how long the plane can theoretically remain airborne, all rechargeable batteries have constraints on the number of charge/recharge cycles they can tolerate before wearing out.

[grahamhgreen]

6. This is good for solar - shows the military they need renewable/unlimited energy for themselves.

[yava]

16. your responses make me sad :(

Here is an application of solar flying at low cost for long duration.
And all most of you think of is to turn yourselves into military experts or surveillance experts as to how we can use it to kill or to monitor even more the humans that we are.
No one mentioned use for cheap monitoring of climate, icebergs, volanos, oilspills, polar bears, deforestation etc etc.
Its very sad and it makes me love you less.
I think I will visit less often.
Sad
:((

[grahamhgreen]

23. Very sad.

[sofa king]

25. You do understand this is a defense contractor's test?

While all those things you mention are nice, they will of course have to be performed by some other device which doesn't use all the patents which will arise from this defense application.

Or, those who wish to use the flying machine for the purposes you mention will have to license the technology from and therefore enrich said defense contractor.

That, I suspect, is why readers are assuming this device will be used for military purposes.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. How much energy does it take?

Here's my commercial pitch: You equip the bottom with some luxury accommodations. Then, using the rotation of the Earth, people can just hoover, and adjust longitude above ground as the Earth spins to the geographical location they want to be. You can get just about anywhere in less than a day on less jet fuel.

[seattleblue]

11. Can't just hover.

Gravity takes you with the earth's rotation. To stay in the same spot while the earth rotated below would require a tremendous amount of energy.

[Kringle]

17. none, its a glider .nt

[Fumesucker]

20. It's not a glider, it has motors and propellers that keep it aloft.

It certainly has similar aerodynamics to many gliders but it's not technically a glider.

[Kringle]

21. total mechanical power, one hamster-power .nt

[Fumesucker]

22. Put your hand in one of the spinning props and you'd get a nasty surprise..

The wingspan is equivalent to a seven story building and it's covered with high efficiency solar cells, that's a lot more power than even Lance Armstrong could put out and he is basically a physiological freak.

I've got several electric powered RC planes, a pill bottle sized brushless motor at full power is enough to take the end off your finger at full power if you're careless enough to stick it in the prop.

Here's a tiny little electric plane that will go 175 mph..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_7qvrHgm5M

[orbitalman]

8. Forget the god damned military...

Lets keep going for consumer use

[Uncle Joe]

10. Kicked and recommended for the expanding use of solar energy.

Thanks for the thread, Elmore Furth.:thumbsup:

[demoleft]

18. agreed. n/t

[JVS]

13. It reminds me of those old Soviet giant planes from the 1920s and 30s

[eppur_se_muova]

15. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=253843&mesg_id=253843

[David Zephyr]

24. Great news! David Zephyr likes this breaking story.

Wonderful.