Airbus' Solar-Powered Zephyr Smashes Flight Duration Record on Maiden Outing (newatlas.com) 53
A solar-powered aircraft from the European aerospace giant Airbus has completed a maiden flight lasting 25 days, 23 hours, and 57 minutes. In doing so, the production model unmanned solar-powered aircraft set the record for the longest flight ever made by any aircraft. From a report: Originally built by British defence company Qinetiq and now owned by Airbus, the Zephyr aircraft is designed to soar through the stratosphere for months at a time by drawing on the power of the sun. It is similar to Facebook's now defunct Aquila aircraft in this sense, and is hoped to one day provide satellite-like services with the flexibility of an unmanned drone. The latest version of the Zephyr weighs just 75 kg (165 lb), but is able to carry up to five times its own weight. Flying above weather and other air traffic at 70,000 ft (21,300 m), the aircraft can be controlled from the ground and has the potential to carry all kinds of payloads, be they to collect high-resolution imagery, provide voice communications or, as was the idea with Aquila, beam internet service to underserved areas. [...] It took off from Arizona on the 11th of July and has only now come down to Earth, a total of 25 days, 23 hours and 57 minutes later. This was the first outing for the production model Zephyr S, and the team is already setting its sights on its next voyage.
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who cares
Your local police department.
Re: um, are you bad at reading, or is it math? (Score:2, Funny)
It can carry up to 27 tons of sarcasm.
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you would not want to be in an aircraft for 26 days in a stretch
I wouldn't want to be either. But These guys did it for a little shy of 65 days [countyairports.org] in a Cessna almost 60 years ago. So this is not exactly the record for longest continuous flight of any aircraft.
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Don't you mean almost continuously refueled? Because that's what a solar panel on the drone is doing.
Not at night.
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Balloons and blimps have also stayed aloft for longer than 27 days. The claim, as written in TFA, is wrong.
Sure, you can qualify if by saying "without refueling" or "heavier than air" or "powered flight" or whatever, but TFA doesn't say that. It says "any aircraft", which is baloney.
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How many tons of cargo does the Zephyr carry?
According to the article summary:
The latest version of the Zephyr weighs just 75 kg (165 lb), but is able to carry up to five times its own weight.
So around 825 lbs.
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It is not the longest (Score:4, Informative)
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Two guys spent 64 straight days cooped up in a Cessna 172?
My condolences for their sanity.
Cheap Satellite with Catches. (Score:3)
There's potential for this to be an inexpensive communications repeater or used for satellite photography (google maps would probably love something like this to keep up to date land imagery). I don't see it being too useful for military because it's too light to have any real defence and it would probably be highly vulnerable to solar flare disruption events. (Probably fry and crash it).
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I don't see it being too useful for military because it's too light to have any real defence
You'd have to be a pretty sophisticated adversary if you can find and target a 75kg glorified R/C aircraft flying at 70,000+ feet
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Hogwash; this thing would have a radar cross-section larger than Hillary's girdle.
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I don't see it being too useful for military because it's too light to have any real defence and it would probably be highly vulnerable to solar flare disruption events.
I disagree, I see this as highly valuable for the military. One problem the military has is keeping communications over a battlefield. If this airplane can provide internet access to far off places then it can provide communications to and from a battlefield and among those on the battlefield.
Also of military value would be the other planned use for this airplane, providing imagery. Knowing where the friends and foes are located would be quite valuable. Drones were quite effective in previous conflicts
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Good enough against sheepherders from a military perspective. But it's completely useless against any sort of real advecary. For any semi-competent air defence it's easy pickings.
Define "semi-competent air defense". These solar powered airplanes can fly for days at altitudes of 70,000 feet. That means that they can take off from just about anywhere in the world, reaching altitude in a safe area, then fly over to the battlefield and loiter. Most commercial aircraft have a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet or less. Some military jets can go higher than that 45,000 feet but only by restricting their weapon payload and maneuverability. The few aircraft designed to go that high are re
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Another advantage over satellites is that it can land, be repaired or upgraded, and take off again at very low cost. Even when the Space Shuttle was flying, fixing stuff in-orbit is a right pain in the arse.
Not nearly the longest flight (Score:1)
Missed! (Score:2)
It took off from Arizona on the 11th of July and has only now come down to Earth, a total of 25 days, 23 hours and 57 minutes later.
They missed their target by 3 minutes obviously ;-)
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I asked the exact same question (Score:2)
In 1995 to the engineers at Edwards Air Force Base. "What is the longest duration flight you have going? A month?"
I got the ole "No comment" with a wink.
My gut tells me the US has an aircraft out there from years ago that has already done the Airbus feat.
But, regardless, it is a neat trick.
How does it land? (Score:2)
I've found video of takeoff, but not of landing. I see no landing gear. Does landing also involve a bunch of people running and holding it?