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NASA Breakthrough For Solar Powered Aircraft
gilgsn writes "Planenews.com just received a news release from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center about a breakthrough in fuel cell technology for solar powered aircrafts and how they used internet technology to broadcast data and HDTV video from the stratosphere above the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Their Helios Prototype could now fly through the night. I am sure that besides public communications, this will interest the military for their drones.."
With such a limited supply of fossil fuels, this could be the answer to the problem when we run out of them. If this process was perfected, it could be used to power cars in the future. I'm not very proficient with cars, but it seems to me that this process could later be refined and moved to cars fairly easily.
You ever try to fly 40km up using a propeller?
Hint: Not much air up there for such things.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
a more efficient type of fuel cell onto a solar powered wing, thereby allowing it to store energy so that it can remain powered overnight.
The need for power overnight isn't to keep it powered overnight (are you thinking payload?) so much as it is to keep the whole thing aloft. Their site or somewhere said the plane consumes about 30 kW. Obviously, you can't use the engines to produce electricity and thrust simultaneously.
More data on Helios and fuel cells.
yes but would you be gaining more energy then you were loosing the next day by trying to regain that alitude? Unless you have actual data your idea doesn't sound that usefull.
Actually, his idea makes some sense. Of course you would "loose" energy. The laws of physics dictate that you will, whether you store the energy in fuel cells or as potential energy. If you gain more energy than you lose, that would be a perpetual motion machine, wouldn't it?
The previous poster's idea makes a lot of sense. If these solar powered aircraft are efficient at gliding, they would be able to glide all night and lose only a few kilometers, which could very easily be gained back the next day. I think it makes more sense than fuel cells.
If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.
The only problem with your suggestion, is that for something to be considered perpetual motion, it would have to be entirely self powered, i.e fully generate it's own power.
Wheras, this system utilises the sun to power it, there'fore, it is quite possible that this psuedo perpetual motion device could function.