Zephyr Obliterates Continuous Flight Record

Tech

Technology has come a long way and mankind is continually toping what we thought wouldn’t be possible years ago. It doesn’t seem all that long before that man was trying to conquer the flight around the world, and it was finally achieved by Wiley Post in 1933. Today we have unmanned air craft shattering records flying around the world in only 30 hours and 24 minutes unofficially.

Zephyr has been a military experiment gone well! The idea was conceived in 2001, and after many prototypes, Saltmarsh believes QinetiQ has finally developed a fully functional solar craft that can be utilized in both armed forces duties and civilian relief situations. Ultimately, the craft could perform what manned aircraft do today at a fraction of the cost.

There are also ideas rumoring that the solar aircraft could perform unmanned surveillance operations. This could take warfare to a whole new level.

Weighing in at just 53 kilograms (117 pounds) the craft has a wingspan of 74 feet and is covered with solar panels that are thinner than a sheet of paper. This is how the plane generates energy and when night falls that energy is stored into lithium-sulphur batteries, which keep the plane airborne through the night.

QinetiQ started building the unique plane 18 months ago and has successfully created a prototype; the plan is to have a functional unmanned military solar plane one year from now. The Zephyr still soars through the sky as I write this and is expected to touch ground in another 7 days. This is truly a phenomenal achievement and something the UK defense should be proud of. It really gets you thinking as to what can be next?

It does appear that sooner than we think, at least in my life time we are going to see wars fought with unmanned machines and aircraft. We have slowly been seeing the technology building closer to remote control ware fare. Everything has their advantages, but there are always negative repercussions. I guess it’s something to think about. What do you think of the new success?