Posted on: Monday, July 16, 2001

Solar wing returns with objectives met

Associated Press

BARKING SANDS, Hawai'i — The unmanned, solar-powered aircraft Helios landed yesterday at the Pacific Missile Range Facility here, where it had taken off 18 hours earlier.

Helios, a long, thin flying wing "was slower than expected coming down, but it landed very smoothly," said National Aeronautics and Space Administration project manager John Hicks.

"We accomplished all of our objectives," he said. "The aircraft performed beautifully. There were no glitches at all."

NASA officials said they spent more time testing Helios at lower altitudes than originally planned before the sun sank too low to continue climbing to a planned maximum altitude of 78,000 feet. It switched to battery power and began its descent in late afternoon. Helios returned at 2:10 a.m., HST.

Scientists collected "a huge mass of data," and will have to analyze that, Hicks said.

Helios reached an altitude of 76,000 feet on its first test flight Saturday, setting the stage for a flight to an altitude higher than aircraft have ever flown.

NASA and Helios' builder, AeroViroment Inc., hope to send the solar aircraft past the 100,000-foot mark, a record for an unmanned aircraft and more than three times higher than commercial jets fly. Helios is designed to reach a maximum altitude of 105,000 feet.

That flight is tentatively scheduled toward the end of the week of Aug. 6, Hicks said.

The main objective is to expand Helios' performance to a maximum capability to see what it can do, Hicks said. Once that is determined, the aircraft can be sent on a planned 96-hour mission at a 60,000-foot altitude in 2003, he said.

The aircraft is envisioned as a surrogate satellite, or low-cost telecommunications relay platform, he said. It also is the best platform for measuring the earth's atmosphere at the 60,000 to 100,000-foot level, and can be used for such purposes as tracking hurricanes, he said.

Helios is a 247-foot-long flying wing that measures only 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 small electric motors powered by solar cells built into the wing.

The partnership between NASA and AeroVironment, of Monrovia, Calif., is not unprecedented but has been very successful, Hicks said.

"It is one of NASA's stellar success stories with industry," he said.

AeroVironment has produced many innovative aircraft, including the human-powered Gossamer Albatross. Its smaller Pathfinder solar-powered airplane flew to a record altitude of more than 80,000 feet in 1998.