SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
The QinetiQ Zephyr, a 110-lb remotely-piloted solar-powered airplane, landed today after a record-setting two-week flight.
The British-built UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was designed to loiter for days, weeks or months carrying surveillance or measuring equipment. The 330-hour flight concluded today will be recorded as an official record for heavier-than-air unrefueled endurance flight by the FIA.
This iteration of Zephyr, larger than the production version sold to the military, uses lithium-sulfur batteries to power two electric motors. It features a 22.5-meter (75-foot) wingspan accommodating about 33 square meters of PV cells. The record-setting flight circled over the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, climbing to 60,000 feet during daylight hours and gradually descending to 40,000 as the motors throttled back overnight. This is a power-management protocol also used by Solar Impulse, the manned solar-powered aircraft that made its first overnight endurance flight on July 7-8.
Seth Masia
Liz Merry
