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Solar-powered Zephyr UAV sets record for longest unmanned flight

Published on August 27th, 2008

Zephyr’s reputation as the world’s leading solar powered high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been reinforced with a world-beating three and a half day flight at the US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.

The solar powered plane flew for 82 hours 37 minutes, exceeding the current official world record for unmanned flight which stands at 30 hours 24 minutes set by Global Hawk in 2001 and Zephyr’s previous longest flight of 54 hours achieved last year.

Launched by hand, Zephyr is an ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre aircraft. By day it flies on solar power generated by amorphous silicon solar arrays no thicker than sheets of paper that cover the aircraft’s wings. By night it is powered by rechargeable lithium-sulphur batteries which are recharged during the day using solar power.

The flight trial at Yuma took place between 28 and 31 July in the harsh conditions of the Sonoran Desert in mid summer with temperatures up to 45°C (113°F). Zephyr was flown on autopilot and via satellite communications to a maximum altitude of more than 60,000ft. The trial included a military utility assessment of a US Government communications payload.

You don’t even want to go outdoors to pee in Yuma in the summer.

5 users responded in " Solar-powered Zephyr UAV sets record for longest unmanned flight "

# 1 WmDE said, on August 27th, 2008 at 10:30 am

60,000 feet over Yuma is damn cold.

# 2 JustSomeGuy said, on August 27th, 2008 at 11:11 am

Good call WmDE…Assuming an avg lapse rate of only 3.3 degrees F it would be something like -85 degrees at 60K feet. It would actually be a quite comfortable 76ish by around 11,000 feet.

The actual numbers might even be more extreme since the air would probably cool down faster due to lower humidity.

Granted the people on the ground would probably be pissed that they had to step out and launch the thing but pointing out the harsh conditions is a bit misleading.

Still a pretty interesting technology. What ever happened to the solar powered flying wing NASA was testing out in Hawaii? I know one of them broke apart but I thought they had two.

# 3 JimD said, on August 27th, 2008 at 11:51 am

I wonder how long it took to reach 60,000 feet – 30 hours ???

# 4 edwinrogers said, on August 27th, 2008 at 12:31 pm

#3. NASA’s Helios page.

http://tinyurl.com/5elvkj

It reached 96,863 feet. It was a proof of concept, not an operational program.

# 5 Nimby said, on August 27th, 2008 at 9:11 pm

“You don’t even want to go outdoors to pee in Yuma in the summer.”

Fortunately, Eideard, lots of people in Yuma actually have indoor plumbing these days. The incidence of urinary tract infections has dropped dramatically.

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