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Transportation Science

Solar-Powered Planes Take Flight (wsj.com) 32

The dream of perpetual, emissionless flight is getting closer to reality. Aviation giants, telecoms, investors, and military agencies are pouring millions into developing these prototypes, which could revolutionize aerial surveillance, emergency communications, and more.

Solar planes absorb energy via panels covering their wings and bodies, allowing them to fly indefinitely as long as the sun shines. Advances in battery technology now enable longer flights and overnight operation, albeit with less power than jet fuel. These slow, lightweight aircraft can fly at altitudes and durations impossible for humans, making them ideal for monitoring, telecom, and disaster response. Companies like BAE Systems, Airbus, and Skydweller are racing to commercialize solar planes, with hopes of offering services by 2026-2027. The unregulated stratosphere is a key focus, with planes acting as "steerable satellites." WSJ adds: Most of the companies trying to commercialize solar planes are building aircraft that are lightweight, autonomous and can fly at altitudes and for lengths of time that humans can't tolerate. Unlike balloons, solar planes are steerable, a big advantage for monitoring a target on the ground or providing telecom coverage without being blown off course. They are also cheaper and closer to Earth than satellites, putting them in a sweet spot for services that can't currently be offered by either, executives in charge of solar-aircraft projects say. The planes can capture higher resolution photos or video than satellites, or deliver broadband internet from the air, another thing satellites can't do.
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Solar-Powered Planes Take Flight

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  • ... what about blimps?

    • Far more expensive, require a vast hanger and mooring tower, and use helium which is increasingly scarce.

      • by dada21 ( 163177 )

        What about a PARTIAL blimp -- just enough "lift" to allow a standard airplane engine to keep it afloat for 24 hours?

        Or a combination of blimp and solar?

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • by caseih ( 160668 )

            Not sure what you're talking about. Hybrid blimps are a thing that some are working on. Airlander has been testing one. I understand they have had some setbacks, and the investment money isn't really there. I don't see any reason why it "wont work" other than economics and the cost of development.

        • by caseih ( 160668 )

          Yes there are some companies working on this. Airlander has what they call a hybrid blimp. The body's shape acts as a wing and generates lift while flying. Helium helps reduce the apparent weight.

        • Take a look at Airlander [wikipedia.org]. This idea is in my opinion the most practical solution to fly sustainably with any serious payload. The electric version is underdevelopment.

          Small electric aircraft are neat, but the Square Cube Law says it does not scale to freight or passenger aircraft: If you make the design twice as big, the wing surface (which carries the load), gets 4 times as big, but the volume, and therefore the mass, gets 8 times as big. So the bigger a fixed-wing heavier-than-air an aircraft gets, the mo

      • For uncrewed blimps, hydrogen can be used instead of helium.

      • For the last time....

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
    • by HiThere ( 15173 )

      Blimps need to be tethered. Perhaps you mean dirigible.

    • by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Tuesday June 11, 2024 @01:38PM (#64541261) Journal

      They're OK if you're willing to forecast the winds and roll with them. You might be able to get around that with a remote-controlled version of what balloonists have always done, which is to find favorable winds at different altitudes. However, those winds might be out of your permitted or desired altitude, so then you're forced to give up. Then there's the helium problem which might be possible to overcome with a solar-powered heater, making it a hot air balloon; but I've never heard of that being done so I'm guessing the math doesn't work out.

      A winged aircraft has a better chance of station-keeping against the wind since it has very little drag. The jet stream would probably still overwhelm these types of craft; but that's a relatively small part of the atmosphere that's more easily avoided.

  • The ultimate weapon in the 1978 anime Future Boy Conan is a large flying fortress that flies above all cloud and entirely powered by sun. In many ways, that series is a dry run on many ideas that will show up in future Studio Ghibli movies.

  • I think by "unregulated" they mean "uncrowded". Telecom and overflight-space are obviously regulated, even in the stratosphere.
  • I seem to recall this a couple of decades ago, where someone built a solar powered aircraft that would circle a point at an altitude between something like 80,000 feet and 60,000 feet... using the solar power to ascend to the higher height, then during the night, gliding down to the lower altitude, before then climbing once more during the day. There were several use cases for such technology.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

It is contrary to reasoning to say that there is a vacuum or space in which there is absolutely nothing. -- Descartes

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