William Atkins
Monday, 25 August 2008 00:41
Science -
Space
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The QinetiQ company launched its solar/rechargeable-battery-powered, propeller-driven plane (Zephyr) on July 28, 2008. It was flown by autopilot through satellite signals during most of its 83-hour, 37-minute flight, an unofficial world record for an unmanned plane.
The 66-pound (30-kilogram) plane was launched by hand on July 28 in the Arizona desert in the United States. Engineers flew the plane manually to an altitude of about 10,000 feet (meters) and then it was flown by autopilot via satellite signals above that height.
Its maximum altitude above the Earth’s surface was over 58,000 feet (18,000 meters)—about 11 miles.
The Zephyr is a lightweight plane that was manufactured by the U.K. defense company
QinetiQ Group PLC. It has a wing span of 59 feet (18 meters) and weights 68 pounds (31 kilograms).
The plane’s frame consists of carbon fibers. It was powered during the day with very thin solar panels whose energy from the Sun was stored in rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries for power at night.
The duration of the flight would have broken the unmanned world flight
record if the U.K company had met criteria set down by the World Air
Sports Federation—which it did not.
According to its website, the World Air Sports Federation (
FAI, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) is the
“world governing body for air sports and aeronautical world records.”
Headquartered in Lausanne, France, the FAI is a non-governmental, non-profit organization whose mission is to advance the fields of aeronautics and astronautics worldwide. It represents around one hundred countries around the world.
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