The road to solar aircraft is littered with the remains of failed projects. Successful flight testing the robust Skydweller could be the start of something big.
. This time the longest flight was ‘just’ 22.5 hours, but in operation the aircraft will fly patrol missions lasting for weeks, powered by solar cells in the day and batteries at night.
While Aquila was coming into land, a sudden gust of wind caused the right wing to break off. The Aquila program did not recoverwhich flew around the world in 2016. While other solar aircraft only carry a few pounds, Solar Impulse had a crew capsule weighing several hundred pounds, meaning it was built with safety in mind and had plenty of capacity when it was converted to uncrewed operation. The other advantage is the level of expertise.
Even with recent upgrades, Skydweller is not pushing the limits of what is technologically possible for this type of aircraft, “There has been a lot of growth in the technology in general, “ says Miller. “With massive industry investment in solar, in batteries and in motors. The water is rising and all the boats are rising with it.”Skydweller will initially be a military project, carrying a variety of Navy sensors and communication packages. As we previously noted, awill handle, fuse and analyze complex data collected by the sensors.
U.S. Navy Boeing Google Solar Impulse Skydweller Solar Aircraft Perpetual Aircraft Solar Powered Aircraft
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