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Solar Powered Helios Plane Destroyed in Test Flight

Posted by michael on from the in-the-event-of-a-water-landing dept.

deglr6328 writes "NASA's solar powered Helios airplane has crashed into the Pacific off the coast of Kauai today during its first test using a regenerative fuel cell power supply. Helios held the record for highest prop propelled plane altitude at 96,863 (set 2 years ago) and was making preparations for a 96 hour continuous flight using its 62,000 solar cells during the day while electrolyzing water into hydrogen and oxygen for use in its fuel cells at night. With the capability to carry 200 lb. to near 100,000 ft. for months on end, Helios was eyed with great anticipation by scientists and RF telecommunications buisnesses alike."

2 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A thought or two... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...because our history is full of science which worked as expected from the start. If it's too complicated to get right the first time, it's not worth doing. Failure depresses people, so only fund guaranteed successes. It's obvious, isn't it?

  2. It's ok by Epistax · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All in the name of science after all. Good thing whatever went wrong happened in the prototype phase, before anything but monetary anticipations were relying on it.

    I'm very interested to know exactly what went wrong. From what I briefly read, I'd imagine it was the actual construction which had a problem, not the technology. Unless this was a pre-flight damaged part, this could be valuable information as I'm sure this plane used the latest designs, as other planes will be using.