Solar wing soars 76,060 feet in initial flight
Associated Press
BARKING SANDS, Kaua'i — Helios, a long, thin flying wing intended to fly higher than any unmanned aircraft ever, passed an altitude of 76,000 feet yesterday on its first solar-powered test flight.
Associated Press
The craft, piloted remotely, was switched to backup battery power for its descent after reaching a peak of 76,060 feet with evening coming on, said John Hicks, program manager for the project based at Dryden Flight Research Center near Los Angeles.
Researchers hope to send the unmanned Helios aircraft to an altitude of 100,000 feet later this summer.
No problems were encountered during the 10 hours and 17 minutes it took the craft to reach peak altitude, Hicks said. He expected the Helios to return to the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua'i around midnight.
After a slight delay caused by clouds, the aircraft took off and headed west across the Pacific, north of Ni'ihau, with researchers aiming for an altitude of 70,000 to 80,000 feet, he said.
Later this summer, researchers intend to send the plane to 100,000 feet, a record for unmanned aircraft and more than three times higher than commercial jets fly.
Helios is a 247-foot-long flying wing that measures 8 feet front to back. The $15 million aircraft is controlled from the ground by two pilots using desktop computers. Its 14 propellers are driven by electric motors powered by solar cells built into the wing.
Helios was built by a partnership of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and AeroVironment Inc. of Monrovia, Calif.
AeroVironment's smaller Pathfinder solar-powered airplane flew to a record altitude of more than 80,000 feet in 1998.
