Solar-powered Zephyr drone aloft 42 days

[TruthSeeker]

Experimental Zephyr drone sets new record for uncrewed flight duration​

By Brett Tingley published about 6 hours ago
The record-breaking flight is intended to test new energy storage and efficiency systems.

Artist's depiction of the uncrewed Airbus Zephyr in high-altitude flight. (Image credit: Airbus)


An experimental aircraft tested in conjunction with the United States Army has been in the air above the Sonoran Desert for 42 days, breaking its own record for longest uncrewed flight.

The solar-powered, high-altitude Airbus Zephyr S took off from the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground on June 15, 2022 and has since been flying patterns over the Yuma Test Range and Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.

The flight has now broken Zephyr's previous record of 25 days, 23 hours that it set in August 2018. The latest flight has seen Zephyr reach a number of additional milestones including its first flight over water, first flight into international airspace, the longest continuous flight while being controlled through satellite communications, and the farthest flight from its launch point, according to a U.S. Army statement(opens in new tab).

The uncrewed Airbus Zephyr in flight. (Image credit: Airbus)

Zephyr features a narrow, almost skeletal-looking fuselage and wings boasting a wingspan of 82 feet (25 meters). Despite its large size, the drone is made from lightweight carbon fiber composites, bringing its overall weight down to just 165 pounds (75 kilograms).

Airbus describes(opens in new tab) Zephyr as "the first stratospheric UAS of its kind" which is able to fly continuously for spans of months at a time. The aircraft is known as a "High Altitude Platform Station," or HAPS, sometimes referred to as a pseudo-satellite. This class of aircraft is designed to remain aloft for extended periods while using solar energy to charge its onboard batteries, which are then used to keep the aircraft flying at night. Thanks to its energy storage system, Airbus claims Zephyr's in-flight operation is completely carbon neutral.
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Zephyr can carry a wide range of payloads of up to 50 pounds (22.5 kg) including optical, infrared, LIDAR and hyperspectral sensors, radar and synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and even early warning systems. Because the drone operates at altitudes of around 70,000 feet (21,340 m), it is able to observe an area on the ground measuring 12 by 18 miles (20 by 30 kilometers).

These capabilities, along with Zephyr's unique endurance abilities, make it well-suited for operations such as maritime security or border surveillance, where it could continuously stand watch over a given location for up to weeks at a time.

Because Zephyr flies at such high altitudes for such long periods, it could also be used as a communications relay platform, sending signals between other aircraft and ground stations, for example, that are too far from one another to establish a line-of-sight link on their own. “Our connectivity services will provide a viable alternative and complement to terrestrial and satellite-based connectivity solutions, allowing for the first time low-latency and direct-to-device connectivity across vast geographies, and economically," Airbus said in a statement(opens in new tab).

After its current record-breaking flight concludes, Zephyr will next be tested over the Pacific Ocean while carrying a U.S. Army-developed payload in the coming weeks.

Experimental Zephyr drone sets new record for uncrewed flight duration

The record-breaking flight is intended to test new energy storage and efficiency systems.

www.space.com

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

The Airbus Zephyr completed the longest recorded drone flight during an Army test

The Airbus Zephyr is a lightweight solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle. Capable of flying at high altitude for extremely long durations, the U.S.

www.wearethemighty.com

The Airbus Zephyr is a lightweight solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle. Capable of flying at high altitude for extremely long durations, the U.S. military is considering the aircraft for its arsenal. Specifically, U.S. Army Futures Command is evaluating the Zephyr for the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance role as well as beyond-line-of-sight communications. AFC completed a live-flight demonstration of the aircraft that lasted 64 days; the longest recorded drone flight and nearly the longest recorded flight ever.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Airbus' solar-powered drone crashes hours before breaking flight endurance record​

It stayed in the air for more than 64 days​

By Cohen Coberly August 24, 2022 at 1:02 PM 7 comments

In brief: Multinational aerospace company Airbus is always seeking to push the boundaries of what's possible in the aircraft industry for civilian and military purposes. And the company nearly achieved that feat recently with the "Zephyr," a high-altitude drone that almost broke the world-record for longest uninterrupted flight time for an aircraft. Unfortunately, 'almost' is the key word here.
After a whopping 64 days of flight without a single stop, Airbus' Zephyr suffered from an unfortunate (and unknown) failure that sent the drone into a steep dive over the Arizona Desert. According to Simply Flying, the craft reached speeds of over 4,500 feet per minute toward the end of its sudden descent.
Airbus offered the following comment to Simply Flying:

Following 64 days of stratospheric flight and the completion of numerous mission objectives, Zephyr experienced circumstances that ended its current flight. No personal injury occurred. Our teams are currently analyzing more than 1500 hours of stratospheric mission data. The valuable experience from this prototype's ultra-long endurance flight has proved to be a positive step toward the Army's high-altitude platform goals.

Airbus doesn't seem keen on revealing exactly what went wrong with the Zephyr, so unless the company changes its mind down the line, the 'circumstances' of the drone's failure will likely remain a mystery.

Though no lives were lost in this incident, the Zephyr's fate is still unfortunate. The flight endurance record we mentioned before has remained unbroken for over 63 years after being set by the 'Hacienda' in 1959. The Hacienda was a Cessna 172, a compact single-engine plane developed in the late 1940s and 1950s. The Cessna 172 is one of the most popular aircraft models in the world. More than 44,000 units have been built since its inception, and new 172s are still being produced to this day.

The Hacienda managed to stay in the air for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and five seconds, thanks to the assistance of a moving fuel truck which drove below the plane when it required a top-up. The Hacienda was already impressive for its time but it's even more impressive for maintaining its record despite all of the progress the aerospace industry has made over the past six decades.

Knowing that their own drone came within arm's length of toppling the Hacienda from its throne must be a bitter pill to swallow for Airbus. Still, 64 days of flight with no ground assistance is an incredible achievement for any aircraft. Furthermore, the Zephyr undoubtedly fed Airbus plenty of useful intel during its two-month tour of duty.

According to Airbus' official website, the Zephyr is the world's leading 'solar-electric stratospheric Unmanned Aerial System.' On the civilian side, one possible use case for the drone is beaming high-speed 4G and 5G connectivity to underserved regions that don't have consistent internet access.

Airbus' solar-powered drone crashes hours before breaking flight endurance record

After a whopping 64 days of flight without a single stop, Airbus' Zephyr suffered from an unfortunate (and unknown) failure that sent the drone into a steep...

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