Sunny Zephyr UAV is already 9, 5 days in the sky Bashny.Net

Zephyr - autonomous high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (HALE), developed by QuinetiQ, held last week in the sky, in a fully autonomous mode.

Currently flying "marshmallow" continues over Arizona, the machine has already broken several world records and is not going to return to earth. In the sky, the drone has already spent 223 hours (or 9 and a half days at the time of this writing), so battery life of the device is almost triple the previous world record of 82 hours of continuous flight, delivered in 2008.







At the moment, the purpose of the experiment - Zephyr hold in the air and the next week, thus proving that the UAV is the world's first fully autonomous aircraft operated from the ground. The potential scope of application - earth observation, intelligence and communications support for the troops and the use of machines in the civilian sector.



Zephyr was started manually, it is powered by solar energy during the day and night from the battery. Solar energy is converted to solar cells based on amorphous silicon. The thickness of the solar panels is less than the thickness of a piece of paper - they cover the entire surface of the wings "marshmallow". At night, power is supplied from podzaryazhennogo day sulfur-ion battery developed by Sion Power Inc and placed on board the aircraft.

The new Zephyr about 50% more than the previous model, the wingspan is 22, 5 meters. Thus, the new device can fit larger batteries, which has updated its power management system. The machine frame is completely redesigned aerodynamic shape designed to reduce air resistance and thus increase the effectiveness of UAVs. The weight of a carbon fiber body is about 50 kg.
Reference to the source.

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