Despite its apparent fragility, the solar-powered Zephyr has set a new record for unmanned flight and managed to stay aloft for a total time of 83 hours and 37 minutes (not too far south of four days). The Zephyr makes use of solar panels which power and lithium-sulfur batteries to allow 24 hour flight.
Of course, this thing has military applications, the plan is to use them as a surveillance platform, with the military hoping for indefinite flight. [Associated Press via DVICE]
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Tags: aircraft, military, Science, Technology
2 responses
Aug 25, 2008 at 11:23 pm
All of a sudden, solar is big!
ZDNet blogs just ran a story on breaking research being performed at Idaho National Labs re: new ways of storing solar energy. Also, Hempstead NY recently received a new solar house:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6PJnYMXgwQ
Jul 25, 2009 at 5:09 am
There is also the concept of setting up re-broadcast antennae providing coverage to uncovered areas via circling airplanes and lighter-than-air vehicles (like blimps) as a solution cheaper than satellites. A plane like this could provide such a function for emergency and military use as well as satellite-style coverage in 3rd world nations where building infrastructure may be difficult or using existing infrastructure impossible.
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