The electric-engined, solar-powered plane that can stay in the skies for a long, long time
We are great fans of anything that flies on solar and electric. We still hope that we can be “planetarians” in more than virtual ways in the future - but using aircraft as close to zero-carbon outputs as possible.
Here (curated by Mashable) is an elegant example of the latest cutting-edge design - a solar-electric plane that could conceivably stay aloft, self-powered, for indefinite periods. The company is called Skydweller. Mashable thumbnails them below:
Created by Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard and Swiss engineer Bertrand Borschberg, the Solar Impulse 2 has a wingspan the size of a Boeing 747 and features more than 17,000 solar panels. In 2019, the design was purchased by U.S.-Spanish startup Skydweller Aero who plans on turning the Impulse 2 into an autonomous drone similar to an orbital satellite.
"A pseudo-satellite is an aircraft that stays aloft, let's say, indefinitely," says Skydweller's CEO, Robert Miller. "That means 30, 60, 90 days -- maybe a year. And as such, it can do basically anything you would imagine a satellite can do." That includes providing telecommunications and Earth imaging, as well as disaster response and monitoring natural resources.
Using an aircraft for such applications is more flexible and cheaper, because satellites are expensive to build and have to be launched into orbit via a rocket, generally powered by fossil fuels.
It's also more sustainable, because satellites have limited lifespans and eventually get decommissioned, often adding to the problem of space junk. Recent research found that large constellations of satellites could damage the ozone layer by releasing chemicals as they burn on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
…Many of its potential applications have environmental benefits, including monitoring the use of natural resources -- for example, scouting the ocean for illegal fishing or for oil leaks from deep sea drilling operations. "There are ways to do that with remote sensing from an aircraft, but it's extremely difficult to do it from a satellite," Miller says.