Solar-Powered "Zephyr" Completes Flight
After decimating the world record for unmanned flight many times over, the Zephyr, a UK-built solar-powered drone, successfully completed its flight with a new record of 336 hours. The plane had been airborne for two weeks without a single in-flight refueling. It has remained atmospheric for so long thanks to thousands of amorphous silicon solar cells lining its wings. And it didn't come down because it had to; the Zephyr landed only (its engineers are happy to point out) because it has nothing left to prove.
Since July 9th, the Zephyr had been soaring over Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona, USA. After just 31 hours in flight, it had already broken the previous world record (its own) for continuous flight by a drone. It then went on to shatter that record more than 10 times.
The plane was developed by British defense company QinetiQ and has a variety of potential applications in the military, communication and scientific fields. It has a 74-foot wingspan and weighs only 110 lbs. thanks to a cutting-edge carbon fiber fuselage.
By day, Zephyr soared through sunny skies, bordering on the stratosphere 60,000 feet above the Earth's surface. At night, it would lose altitude but maintained more than enough power through on-board batteries to fly safely. After two weeks, it has proven it could fly indefinitely and QinetiQ no longer classifies the Zephyr as an experimental plane.
As project manager, Jon Saltmarsh told the BBC early this morning, "The Zephyr is now ready for service."
That service will likely commence with a turn for either the U.S. Department of Defense or England's Ministry of Defence.
This record-breaking feat of endurance by the Zephyr comes on the heels of a similar accomplishment by the Solar Impulse and Andre Borschberg, the first pilot to fly a solar-powered aircraft through the night.
Source: BBC
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