Solar Plane Can Fly Around The Earth For Five Years Without Landing
Image Source: Tgdaily
Earlier in July, we saw a Swiss-built Solar Impulse completed the first ever 24-hour flight by a manned solar-powered aircraft, reaching a record-breaking height of 8,500m. Meanwhile, a month later UK engineering firm QinetiQ’s unmanned Zep hyr plane flew for 82 hours and 37 minutes above the US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
Now, the aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing has confirmed that it is working on a space-age plane design that could keep flying for up to five years using only solar power.
Boeing and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have signed an $89 million (£56.5m) deal that will see Boeing develop and fly the aircraft on its first demo flight by 2014.
The spying plane dubbed the SolarEagle is a uniquely configured, large unmanned aircraft designed to eventually remain on station at stratospheric altitudes for at least five years while constantly collecting information and surveillance.
During the trial the solar plane will spend 30 days in the upper atmosphere, producing energy from the sunlight during the day which will be stored in fuel cells and used to provide power through the night.
[Via TG Daily]
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See Also:
- Scientists Develop Self-Repairing Solar Cells
- Make your Home Green with Solar Roof Tiles
- Solar Powered Smartphone for ‘Green’ Users
- ‘Green’ Fun for Kids This Summer
- Solar Refrigerator to Store Vaccines Could Save Millions of Lives
Tags: DARPA, Environment, Green efforts, green technology, Renewable Energy, Solar Plane, Solar Powered
