But how exactly is control such an issue with only 30% helium lift? Sure, that s basically the rever

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A solar-powered high-altitude drone made by Titan Aerospace is intended to be able to remain la quinta inn las vegas in flight for about five years. When manufactured, it would have 3,000 solar panels producing about 7 kW of electricity and would be above the clouds, so it would be exposed to sunlight constantly during daylight hours. One is scheduled for completion next year.
The point of having such a plane would be to keep a payload in flight long-term, presumably in a manner similar to communications satellites. They could be used for surveillance applications such as environmental monitoring, fire monitoring and disaster response, among other things.
Using a l ong-term la quinta inn las vegas solar drone/plane also has the advantage of being a vessel that can be safely brought back down to ground level, so old payloads can be offloaded, or repaired. News ones can be put in place and then the plane can re-ascend to continue its solar-powered la quinta inn las vegas flight.
Another potential advantage is cost. Some satellites cost hundreds of millions of dollars . Just getting them up to the desired altitude can be extremely expensive.  One they are there, they can be damaged or break down and they become space junk.
Launching satellites into space also produces rocket fuel emissions, which may impact climate change, The Aerospace study has shown that black carbon particles emitted by hydrocarbon-fueled rockets could play a role in climate change in coming decades. Funded by the Aerospace Research and Program  Development Office and other agencies, it is the first study of the effects that rocket exhaust la quinta inn las vegas could have on the climate la quinta inn las vegas system. Black-carbon particles produced by hydrocarbon-fueled rockets could be significant because rocket exhaust is the only direct source of human-produced compounds in the atmosphere above approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles). Rockets also emit carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other compounds that absorb thermal energy, but soot particles have possibly the greatest la quinta inn las vegas potential—on a kilogram-for-kilogram basis— to promote la quinta inn las vegas climate la quinta inn las vegas change.  (Source: Aerospace.org )
The article mentions other uses for the planes like surveillance, which makes me wonder how many of these are planned to be constructed if the first one turns out well. Also, what is the plane going to be doing when it is night time since it is supposedly able to stay in the air for 5 years?
la quinta inn las vegas Well, 100-150kg payload. That is enough for a tactical nuke. If it will stay up properly high there are not many countries that are able to shoot them down, especially as they will go properly la quinta inn las vegas fast in thin atmosphere.
Something never widely discussed about aviation la quinta inn las vegas but something I am well acquainted with is the amount of power you need from an aircraft internal combustion engine. I flew light twins for an air taxi many years ago as well as having been a flight instructor for a couple of years.
My point is that you need less than 20% of engine power to stay aloft once you get to cruising altitude. Therefore, if you put a hydrogen fuel cell auxiliary engine on a solar powered passenger aircraft for use during takeoff and climb out only, you would have a hybrid solar powered aircraft that could perform as well or better than a modern jumbo jet.
At around 70,000 feet, where the U2 type aircraft flies (notice the wings on this jet aircraft are shaped like a glider s wings), the speed over the ground is above 400 mph. However, the indicated la quinta inn las vegas airspeed is about 100 mph. It takes off at a mere 81 mph.
My point is that a prop plane (with very large props) can fly quite fast as long as it flies in very thin air. To the aircraft, it s the air going over the wings that count. The main reason prop planes didn t fly higher was because their engines couldn t handle it. The Russian bomber with turboprop engines flies very high.
Mach 1 is the speed of sound. Here s a table of calibrated (indicated airspeed -air molecules hitting to pitot tube -corrected for any instrument error) at the speed of sound for different la quinta inn las vegas altitudes:
I m pretty much the closest thing to an airship expert there is, and rest assured that balloons are simply not an option. Theoretically, they work, but the reality is that their near-complete lack of anything la quinta inn las vegas resembling directional control basically makes them intermittently useful at best.
Solar airships are pretty much the only way to go. Solar planes are actually SLOWER, believe it or not, and more vulnerable to the weather. la quinta inn las vegas The simply don t have the surface area necessary to weather storms or move quickly. They re underpowered. They operate on extremely slim operational margins, and on something with so few redundancies, disaster is never far away.
Airships, on the other hand, have colossal lift. Not only can you carry more payload than a plane, la quinta inn las vegas you can do it more safely and economically. la quinta inn las vegas In 2014, Canada will be flying a solar powered hybrid airship. It s delta-shaped, for a wind profile a tiny fraction as much as a cigar-shaped airship, as well as generating aerodynamic la quinta inn las vegas lift like a plane (which greatly helps control, helium use and payload) and giving the largest possible area for solar panels.
I think solar powered aircraft will get faster as the technology improves. Right now they have a ridiculously tiny operating airspeed envelope to maximize lift and minimize drag. When they can strap on a fuel cell powered booster engine to takeoff and reach cruising altitude, they can increase gross weight (and beef up the wing for higher velocities).
The only time I flew an airship was in a simulator and I had a lot of difficulties with maintaining the thing pointing at the horizon instead of up or down pitch attitudes. I guess the ballast balancing takes some getting used to.
Oh, the Canadians are far removed from the concept phase. They ve flown three different la quinta inn las vegas manned prototypes thus far. The one flying la quinta inn las vegas in 2014 is the full-scale production version outfitted with solar panels.
As for how airships handle in the roughest conditions the sky has to offer, that s a tricky question. The extent of my experience has been a few run-ins with a Zeppelin and a small homebuilt blimp, so I wouldn t know. But before my time, in the 1950s, there was a U.S. naval program that sent the long-forgotten ZPG-series airships well into the Arctic circle la quinta inn las vegas to test their mettle.
Now, bear in mind, this was sixty years ago. The ZPG airships were conventional, cigar-shaped LTA (Lighter-Than-Air) blimps, with no rigid hull structure or keel. We have Kevlar, carbon fiber and Vectran that s stronger than steel nowadays, but back then it was just doped fabric. They had no thrust vectoring back then, either, so maneuvering is about as difficult as you might expect, and a cigar hull shape like that blows like a giant sail in the wind. Long story short, they re about as far removed la quinta inn las vegas from the ideal design for a rugged all-weather airship as you could possibly get by modern standards.
On top of that, the weather in the Arctic at the time was the worst they d had in years. 65 mph winds, vicious blizzards, la quinta inn las vegas fog, unbelievable temperatures. All military and commercial aircraft la quinta inn las vegas were grounded.
Never in the two years that I ran the project did a ship ever drift or get blown off the runway. One airship flew in continuous icing conditions for 56 hours, the record on station was 96 1/2 hours. Takeoffs and landings were made with ceilings under 100 feet during snowstorms, and with winds from 30 to 50 knots.
These airships are built in partnership with Zenair, a bushplane builder. The gondola of one of the prototypes is really a converted, stretch-limo bushplane, with rechargeable batteries in the floor. The center la quinta inn las vegas engine la quinta inn las vegas is the standard piston engine, but the wings have been replaced with a pair of electric motors. The inflatable hull itself is very, very small, la quinta inn las vegas and gets most of its lift from aerodynamics.
The first prototype is a tiny, one-man, 30-foot ship. One or two engines. Can be inflated with air or Helium, la quinta inn las vegas depending on how much you need the 30% boost in lift. It flies really smooth and lands very readily, with great STOL performance and a stall speed that s practically nonexistent. No telling how much it cost, but probably very little.
Mankind has actually built and flown roughly twenty different models of manned airships (no rigids or semi-rigids) since the Hindenberg burned while landing at NAS Lakehurst in the late 30 s. (compared to seventy VTOL fixed-wing aircraft.) Most built by a single company, Goodyear.
Don t think I was denigrating the nan-ships, though. In fact, I was complimenting them and their pilots- look at how rugged la quinta inn las vegas they turned out to be, despite having none of the fancy technology we have today.
And you basically hit the nail on the head about drag. That s the compromise hybrid airships have to live with, I m afraid. They have more drag than a conventional la quinta inn las vegas airship. But the resultant loss of efficiency is more than made up by the increase in safety, payload, maneuverability and the ability to go more places, in my opinion.
But how exactly is control such an issue with only 30% helium lift? Sure, that s basically the reverse of other hybrids, but they ve already built and flown three prototypes. It performs more or less like a plane rather than an airship, no surprises there. Are you referring to a center of balance or center of gravity issue, or a maneuverability issue? I d like you to elaborate in more detail.
I m no expert but with modern vectored thrust and some kind of very long line with a magnetic head on it (or perhaps a tiny drone at the end of the line that finds the mas