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Solar Powered UAV to Set Aviation Endurance Record?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the getting-warmer dept.

Iddo Genuth writes to mention that a group of Israeli students is hoping their latest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will soon break the world aviation record for endurance that has stood for over 17 years. The piece features a short history of solar power aviation and an interview with the students.

3 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. hmm by mastershake_phd · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The work done at the Technion as well as elsewhere around the world is starting to attract the attention of the aviation industry with the hope of creating green aircrafts with a much higher endurance threshold.

    I dont really see this being applied to commercial passenger or cargo planes. Maybe ultralites.

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    1. Re:hmm by DieByWire · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When they pull a plane to the gate, they hook it up to a power system to keep the AC, lights, etc, running, without wasting fuel. How much could be saved both fuel and electricity at the airports?

      Why don't you just put solar panels on the terminal roof then? Cheaper, no weight added to aircraft, easier to engineer, and useful when the plane's not there.

      Solar power for airplanes is a niche market - high, slow, endurance, light weight. You won't be seeing it on airliners anytime soon.

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  2. excellent by Lord+Ender · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A hydrogen-filled blimp with docks for solar-powered planes could allow me to reign over those fools on the surface almost indefinitely!

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