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Startup Skydweller To Turn Solar Impulse 2 Into Long-Endurance UAV When Solar Impulse 2 flew around the world in 2015-16, including Andre Borschberg’s almost five-day solo flight across the Pacific, it dispelled the belief that solar-powered aircraft must be gossamer machines with limited capabilities. Now the 236-ft.-span poster child for clean technology is being prepared for a new role—as a heavy-payload, long-endurance unmanned aircraft for commercial and government markets. The famed aircraft has been acquired by U.S. startup Skydweller Aero, formed by UAV experts from Northrop Grumman’s Special Projects organization and backed by European aerospace giant Leonardo and a group of private investors. Founded in Switzerland by Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse flew a smaller prototype in 2009. The team then built the 5,620-lb. SI2 for the around-the-world attempt, launching from Abu Dhabi in March 2015 and returning in July 2016 after circumnavigating the globe in 17 flights totaling 558.7 hr. and 22,915 nm. A2Z Manufacturing Rocky Mountain •
36 Nov / Dec
2019
The feat included the longest solo flight on record, 2,206 nm and 117 hr. 52 min. from Nagoya, Japan, to Kalaeloa, Hawaii, Borschberg flying in an unpressurized cockpit at 28,000 ft., sleeping 2 hr. a day in 20-min. chunks. SI2 is approved to fly over populated areas, has accumulated several hundred hours safe flight, “but its true potential will only be realized when the human is removed,” believes Skydweller. Advances in solar-powered aircraft have created a new market for highaltitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS) in roles such as communications and surveillance. These are unmanned aircraft that can stay aloft in the stratosphere, above winds and weather, for days to weeks or months. But to reach altitudes above 60,000 ft., such aircraft must have ultralight airframes and limited payloads. Examples include Airbus’ Zephyr, an 82-ft.-span UAV weighing 165 lb. and carrying just an 11-lb. payload, but which holds a flight endurance record of almost 26 days. BAE Systems’ Phasa-35 is a 114-ft.-span aircraft weighing 330 lb. and carrying 33 lb., while Aurora Flight Sciences’ 243-ft.-span Odysseus was designed to carry a payload of 55 lb. SI2 is a different beast. The requirement to support a pilot on flights up to five days at altitudes below 30,000 ft. required a robust airframe and power system. When it flew around the world, the aircraft carried a 200-lb. pilot plus his seat, survival equipment, life raft, supplies, oxygen, toilet and a cockpit full of controls and displays. Removal of all that equipment during conversion will result in an unmanned aircraft able to carry a payload of 300-800 lb. and sustain altitudes of 15,000-45,000 ft.—medium altitudes that a HAPS must transit with extreme caution. Airbus has lost two Zephyrs this year to atmospheric turbulence during ascent from its operating base in Wyndham, Australia. Skydweller describes its aircraft as a medium-altitude pseudo-satellite (MAPS)—a new class of UAV able to carry heavy payloads for long durations. Flights are expected to last up to 90 days, with more than 2,900 ft.2 of solar cells on the upper surfaces of the wing, fuselage and tail generating 100 kW at 300 volts, including 2 kW of continuous power to payloads with peaks up to 20 kW. “The payload capacity of Skydweller is a game changer,” says Allen Gardner, chief technology officer. “The conventional wisdom was that solar aircraft had to be extremely light and fragile, fly in the stratosphere, and carry tiny payloads. We break that mold. Our aim is to carry heavy and powerful payloads and persist indefinitely in medium altitudes.” Skydweller’s operational envelope is a matrix of latitude, time-of-year, altitude, payload weight and power. After each flight, the aircraft will return to base and be equipped with new payload and battery loadouts optimized for the next time-of-year slot. “There is no question that building a MAPS is tough,” says Gardner. “Wind and weather are the biggest challenge. It is a huge advantage that we are starting with a mature airframe that has already flown around the world in medium altitudes.” By: Graham Warwick | Aviation Week & Space Technology