How advance the technology can be? Now they have solar aircraft which runs on electric motors rather than internal combustion engines, with electricity coming from fuel cells, solar cells, ultra capacitors, power beaming,and/or batteries. Plug-in hybrid planes can use the optional combustion engine to extend the range. Let’s check out the top 10!
1 ) Solar Impulse
Flying Altitude: 10 Km
Wingspan: 70-meter
Solar Impulse is a European long-range solar powered plane project currently being undertaken at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. The project is promoted by Bertrand Piccard, who piloted the first balloon to circle the world non-stop. Solar Impulse too aims to circumnavigate the Earth. The single-pilot solar-powered aircraft comes with 2,700 square feet of monocrystalline solar cells.
2 ) Planet Solar
PlanetSolar is the most geeky solar powered aircraft designed with a purpose. It’s designed like a swan with a long white beak projecting out of a three-hulled body, equivalent to a trimaran, and powered by 1,930 square feet of solar panels. Sill under construction, it will challenge Swiss explorer and scientist Bertrand Piccard by first circumnavigating Earth on solar power challenging natural forces and testing the ultimate machine.
3 ) Helios
Speed: 27 mph
Wingspan: 247-foot
They were built to develop the technologies that would allow long-term, high-altitude aircraft to serve as “atmospheric satellites”, to perform atmospheric research tasks as well as serve as communications platforms. The Helios, though not with us now as it crashed in June 2003, still qualifies for this list with its top cruising speed of 27 mph and the 247-foot wingspan, which in fact is even greater than a 747 Jumbo Jet, 62,000 solar cells and 14 brushless direct-current electric motors.
4 ) Centurion
Flying Altitude: 100,000 feet
Speed: 12.5 mph
Centurion takes solar powered aircraft technology to news heights with ultralight flying wing equipped with multiple electric motors that takes it to an altitude of 100,000 feet at 12.5 miles per hour. AeroVironment developed this project along with NASA’s Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program, which is sponsored by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA.
5 ) Zephyr
Zephyr is a lightweight solar-powered plane engineered by the United Kingdom defence firm, QinetiQ. It is of carbon-fibre construction, and uses sunlight to charge a lithium sulfur battery during the day, which power the aircraft at night. The aircraft has been designed for use in observation and communications relay. The Zephyr holds the world record (unofficial) for the longest duration unmanned flight with a 82-hour, 61,000 foot flight in July 2008.
6 ) Pathfinder plus
Unique features: Telecommunication platform
Flying Altitude: 24470.868 meters
Pathfinder Plus is an improved version of Pathfinder and holds a record for touching highest altitude of 24470.868 meters (80, 285 feet). AeroVironment initiated its development of full-scale solar-powered aircraft with the Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger vehicles in the late 1970s and early 1980s, following the pioneering work of Robert Boucher, who built the first solar-powered flying models in 1974. Under ERAST, AeroVironment built four generations of long endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the first of which was the Pathfinder.
7 ) Solar Challanger
Weight: 90 kg
Wingspan: 14.3 meters
Flying Altitude: 12,000 feet
Solar Challenger is an improved version of ‘Gossamer Penguin‘, designed to fly from Paris to England. The aircraft can reach an altitude of 12,000 feet equipped with 16,128 photovoltaic cells giving a tremendous output power of 2,600 watts. Its success gave way to High Altitude Solar (HALSOL) drone project.
8 ) Sky Sailor
Unique features: Prototype designed for future space search, especially Mars
Weight: 2.6 kg
Wingspan: 3.2 meters
The Sky-sailor is a motorized glider aimed at flying autonomously. The energy is for instance provided by solar cells and stored in a battery and/or as potential energy (altitude gain). The final goal of the Sky-sailor project is to maximize the energetic autonomy of the glider, and possibly break the present records of flight duration. The energetic performance of the machine can be monitored in real-time and depends on the flight conditions (air mass movements), on the flight regime (e.g. airspeed), on the machine characteristics (i.e. the polars, position of center of gravity) and on the autopilot characteristics.
9 ) Solitair
Wingspan: 5.2-meter
SOLITAIR or Solar Powered Aircraft for High Altitude Long Endurance Flight, is another unmanned, solar powered aircraft or a satellite to be precise, is specifically designed to conduct research activities in northern European latitude.
10 ) Solong Aircraft
Weight: 10.8 kg
‘SoLong’ stands apart by flying continuously for over 24 hours by battery and solar power .
reference link : blazingwings
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