Solar drone held in the air for a week

Recently, I already wrote that a manned aircraft on solar batteries made a flight lasting a day (non-stop flight). As it turned out, drones are able to stay in the air much longer - for example, today a new record has been set. The Zephyr solar-powered drone lasted exactly a week in the air, and, according to the developers, could fly as much again. But the developers did not feel the fate, and after reaching a new record, they planted a “sunny” airplane. Let me remind you that the previous record was set by the same Zephyr, which lasted 83 hours in the air with 37 minutes.

The plane is not so light and already, its total weight is 50 kilograms, the wingspan of this aircraft is 22 and a half meters. Solar panels cover the most sun-exposed parts of the wings, and stored energy is stored in lithium batteries. It is clear that the accumulation is during the day, and at night the apparatus flies on the energy that it has accumulated during the daytime. Thanks to such a system, Zephyr can fly at any time of the day.
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The aircraft is kept in the air thanks to the autopilot system, also developed by the creators of the unique aircraft.



By the way, the load capacity of Zephyr is known - in total it can lift four kilograms into the air. Interesting is the maximum flight altitude, which is as much as 18 kilometers (!). Unfortunately, the speed of movement of Zephyr is unknown, the developers have not yet reported this characteristic.

The aircraft was developed by the British company Qinetiq, whose management announced its intention to set the next record - to stay in the air for 14 days. Tests are conducted in the Arizona desert, which allows to avoid the vicissitudes of the weather. Interestingly, if you run such a plane in the middle lane? Will he hold on just as well? In principle, if it keeps all the time above the cloud cover, then there is no problem - that there, that here, the conditions above the clouds are about the same (with small assumptions, of course).

Why was such an aircraft created? It can perfectly perform a number of tasks, including meteorological observations, the study of the atmosphere, the retransmission of radio signals, and spyware tasks (from a great height, quietly monitor any conflict or the construction of an industrial facility). In general, the range of tasks that Zephyr can perform is very wide. Unfortunately, the cost of this drone is also not yet advertised.

Here is the source .