I believe it eventually crashed.
Posted on 10/07/2013 7:15:21 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
An aerospace company has presented its design “atmospheric satellites” that fly at 65,000 feet and provide drone-like services such as live-mapping and monitoring narcotics trafficking.
Titan Aerospace recently offered the Solara series of such drones: which can fly continuously for nearly five years, charging its own battery high above commercial aircraft through the use of solar power. The larger Solara will be 60 meters wide and have the ability to carry about 250 pounds.
Cruising speed for the Solara is about 65 mph, and the unmanned craft will have an operating range of over 2.8 million miles.....
(Excerpt) Read more at lasvegas.cbslocal.com ...
In Other News, Amark Genetics has genetically engineered a unicorn that eats garbage and farts rainbows. They expect to market the product in 3 to 5 years...
Coming soon to a gooberment bureaucracy near you.
LOL. I’m betting that any good model airplane club could duplicate this for a LOT less than $2MM.
“I am perpetual I keep the country clean.”
5 years with 100% reliability and zero maintenance? That would be one heck of an achievement for any system. In reality, these things would periodically drop out of the sky right onto your house.
What happens when the jet stream is around 200mph?
65 mph.
About the speed of a mallard duck flying by...
Don’t see why it couldn’t work. The only things with physical wear and tear are the electric motor and the bearings. No reason they can’ make a motor or bearings that will last five years.
I think the five years lifespan is probably based on battery efficiency. After five years, the battery won’t be able to hold enough charge to keep the drone up over-night.
It will happily fly 10k+ feet over them, where there is hardly any wind.
I believe it eventually crashed.
Looks feasible to me and a lot cheaper than satellites. The only downside is it makes full time surveillance too easy.
Motors and bearings probably won't run full-time. Operational strategy would likely be to glide most of the time, and use motor/battery to climb back up to reach the next glide point. Same strategy as already used by oceanographic "drones", which are designed to sample the ocean for various parameters autonomously.
True dat. Our high-tech community is happily designing and building the tools of a surveillance state that Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and Mao would literally have killed to get, and both/all of our political parties are ignoring the threat, if not actively fostering it.
Tens of thousands of parts...how many are critical to safe flight?. Agree electric motors are highly reliable, but there’s a lot of critical flight safety parts besides them. Of course, many of those failures will lead to degraded flight and most likely a safe landing for maintenance.
Still, keep your eye peeled for falling drones.
60 meters across, 250 pound payload. I’m guessing it’s not too sturdy.
Don’t think they’ll fall very fast. They’re built like RC gliders...
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