Solar Plane To Make Public Debut 76
Posted
by
kdawson
from the blackbird-flying-in-the-dead-of-night dept.
from the blackbird-flying-in-the-dead-of-night dept.
vigmeister writes "Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard has unveiled a prototype of the solar-powered plane he hopes eventually to fly around the world. The initial version, spanning 61m but weighing just 1,500kg, will undergo trials to prove it can fly at night. Dr. Piccard, who made history by circling the globe non-stop in a balloon in 1999, says he wants to demonstrate the potential of renewable energies. He expects to make a crossing of the Atlantic in 2012. The HB-SIA has the look of a glider but is on the scale of a modern airliner. The airplane incorporates composite materials to keep it extremely light and uses super-efficient solar cells, batteries, motors, and propellers to get it through the dark hours. The public unveiling on Friday of the HB-SIA took place at Dubendorf airfield near Zürich."
Autopilot? (Score:5, Interesting)
From the article:
"The aeroplane could do it theoretically non-stop - but not the pilot," said Dr Piccard.
""In a balloon you can sleep, because it stays in the air even if you sleep. We believe the maximum for one pilot is five days."
Seems autopilot should be the least complicated part of this endeavor, especially considering that there have already been several unmanned solar powered aircraft demonstrated already. Turn on the autopilot and catch some Z's.
Re:Helios (Score:4, Interesting)
Great reference, thank you!
The Helios is an amazing technological feat: it reached an altitude of about 30 Km, which is the highest a non-rocket aircraft has ever achieved. And due to its propellent being unexhaustable, it could, conceivably, stay in the air forever, provided that it climbs high enough during sun-time.
The Helios is stuff I'd like to see more development in.
Re:They solved the night flying problem nicely (Score:4, Interesting)
If the sail was positioned at 90 degrees and then the fan blew across the front of it, you'd create the Bernoulli effect, with the lower pressure air behind the sail pushing you forward. Of course in the configuration in the cartoon I expect Wile E. was just blowing it from behind, in which case it wouldn't work at all.
Faster plane (Score:2, Interesting)
The plane is too slow. If they had a faster design it could fly around the world in continuous daylight.
the bleeding edge (Score:3, Interesting)
The point is not to impress you, but to prove that a solar powered plane can be built. If you have a large capital investment but you don't have to pay for fuel for 20 years, it opens up the transportation market in novel ways.
I imagine the solution will be vehicles that can ride the jetstream. The ticket will be one way, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be effective to circle the globe if the fuel is cheap or free.
Why? (Score:3, Interesting)
My God, an airliner-sized plane that costs millions of dollars and carries a single passenger at nearly the speed of a moped!
Now we all just need millions of dollars, a large runway for every home, parking for them wherever we want to go, and we'll finally break out of those nasty fossile fuel addictions.
I'm not trying to be a hater, but it seems like they are pouring way too much into this to get too little to be that impressive.
Please don't ruin my life, Monsieur Piccard.
Re:They solved the night flying problem nicely (Score:1, Interesting)
"Sails on boats work like wings, that's how it's possible to sail upwind."
You are wrong. If you were right then a sailboat would not need a keel. Remove the keel on a sailboat and the boat will not sail upwind, not matter what sails it has, it will sail downwind.
A sailboat sails upwind because the pressure of the wind on the sails causes the keel to press against water below the boat. These two forces acting against each other just aft of the boats centre of gravity force the boat forward.
Re:Helios (Score:1, Interesting)
Technically inaccurate. The highest altitude a non-rocket engined aircraft has achieved is 37,650 meters, set in a MiG-25 on a "zoom flight" (Think pointing up, full throttle until the engine dies, and seeing how far up you can go). It holds the record for highest SUSTAINED altitude, beating the SR-71's old record by 5 km.