Airbus solar-powered drone crashes after flying nonstop during 64 days
(Airbus https://bit.ly/3QPUjCW)
Zephyr 8, a solar-paneled drone from Airbus, has crashed after 64 days of flight. The company didn't disclose the reason.
The aircraft was less than a day short of breaking the flight duration record set in 1959.
However, it broke his own record for the duration of an unmanned flight, which was 26 days.
Zephyr 8 belongs to the class of vehicles actively developed in recent years: pseudo-satellites.
These are unmanned aircraft or stratospheric balloons that can fly at an altitude of 20-25 kilometers for months.
Due to their high altitude and flight duration, pseudo-satellites can constantly cover or image a large area.
Therefore, they are intermediate between ground base stations or classic aerial photography aircraft and satellites.
THE ZEPHYR
The Zephyr project was founded in the early 2000s by the British company Qinetiq, and subsequently bought by Airbus.
Zephyr 8 is an unmanned aircraft with a wingspan of 25 meters and a weight of only 75 kilograms.
The plane has Solar panels installed on the upper and side surfaces feeding two engines.
During the day, the panels also charge the batteries, which then supply energy to the engines at night.
Airbus proposes using the Zephyr for aerial photography and communications.
In 2018, the Zephyr set the longest flight time record for an unmanned aircraft, staying in the air for 26 days.
On June 15 of this year, Airbus launched the aircraft on what could have been the longest flight in history, beating the 1959 record.
The 1959’s record consisted of two pilots flying periodic non-stop and refueling from the ground.
During the test flight, a pickup truck drove up under the plane to provide fuel and food on the go.
As a result, the pilots managed to stay in the air for 64 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes.
THE END
Airbus did not cover the new test flight of the Zephyr 8 over the desert in the US state of Arizona.
However, because it was equipped with an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system, aviation enthusiasts followed the aircraft through publicly available services on the Internet.
On August 19, the public noticed that the aircraft had dropped its altitude from its normal 18-21 kilometers to 14.
Then, during the turn, it began to descend at over 20 meters per second and soon stopped transmitting any data, probably falling and crashing.
An Airbus spokesperson confirmed that Zephyr "faced the circumstances that led to the end of the flight" and also noted that no employees were injured.
The company notes that it has received a large amount of valuable data from more than 1,500 flight hours, which will help develop the project in the future.
Source:
- Simple Flying: https://simpleflying.com/airbus-zephyr-flight-ends/
- Interesting Engineering: https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/airbus-unmanned-solar-powered-zephyr-crashed
If you like my content, please consider following, upvoting and commenting. I really appreciate it.
Follow my Telegram channel: https://t.me/stemsteemit
Upvoted! Thank you for supporting witness @jswit.
