Solar Airship One – a Grand Voyage Awaits

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, hydrogen, Hydrogen Fuel, Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation 3 Comments

Having circumnavigated the world by balloon and solar-powered aircraft, Bertrand Piccard is ready to make a third around-the-world flight – this time in Solar Airship One, powered by the sun and hydrogen fuel cells.  Able to make the 40,000 kilometer (24,855 mile) trip in one gigantic hop, the 151 meters (495.4 feet) long craft will be borne aloft on 50,000 cubic meters (1,766,000 cubic feet) of helium. Unlike his lonely stints at the controls of Solar Impulse 2, Piccard will be joined by two worthy co-pilots; Dorine Bourneton, “The first disabled woman to become an aerobatic pilot (Bourneton was severely injured at age 16 in an aircraft accident) and Michel Tognini, a former French Air Force fighter pilot and European Space Agency astronaut (Tognini has been twice to space, in 1992 and 1999).”  The Craft Its helium sealed in 15 large gas bags that emulate the shape of the airship, the ship carries 50,000 cubic meters (1.77 million cubic feet) …

Skydweller Seeks Ultra-Persistence

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, Hydrogen Fuel, Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Skydweller Aero, an adaptation of Solar Impulse technologies, is working with the U. S. Navy to provide ultra-persistent flight capabilities.  It’s using Solar Impulse Two, for which Skydweller purchased the assets and intellectual property rights.  Being flown in Spain at this time, the aircraft’s 2,900 square feet of solar cells provide two kilowatts of power, and may be augmented by hydrogen fuel cells in future. In Spain Skydweller founders John Parkes and Robert Miller have headquarters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but are performing flight tests in Spain, coordinating efforts with the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM). After successfully completing ground tests that checked the structure and control systems, Skydweller works toward crafting the software that will guide it on unpiloted missions, scheduled to last at least 30 to 60 days.  Such persistence, long sought by the military for ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) missions, is also essential for many future civilian applications.  Co-founder John Parkes explained this to Aviation Today.  …

Solar Impulse 2 Batteries – Better than We Thought

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What happened to Solar Impulse 2’s batteries on those long five days and nights over the Pacific?  It took months of enforced downtime in Hawaii to have new batteries made, sent from Korea, installed, tested, and flown again.  Could the plane have completed the flight on the original batteries? Kokam, manufacturer of the airplane’s cells, has released new information that provides details of the drive system and relieves a few lingering anxieties.  An over-riding concern was that batteries overheated on the Japan to Hawaii part of the mission, topping out at 50 degrees Centigrade (122 degrees Fahrenheit) – above their design temperature.  Your editor has thought deeply about what Andre’ Borschberg must have gone through every day of the five over the Pacific, seeing the temperatures on the four battery packs climbing as he pointed the airplane’s nose up in its saw tooth flight profile. Borschberg explained that stress in a comment on SI2’s blog.  “”I feel exhilarated by this …

Solar Impulse Makes a Final Landing

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Bertrand Piccard closed out the over-year-long endurance test of man and machine, landing in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, where the 17-leg journey began over a year ago. Landing at night in the glow of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center, the largest mosque in the UAE, and greeted by fellow pilot Andre’ Borschberg, the project’s sponsor HSH Prince Albert of Monaco, and a large throng in western and Middle Eastern garb, the flight climaxed not only an aerial adventure, but an opportunity to share multiple cultures and teach thousands of children and youth about alternative energy and the way to a green future for all. Whether the promises made at the United Nations and at COP21 in Paris last December will be honored will in large part determine how successful the flight really was. The team’s blog reflects a bit on the importance of the journey, and the worldwide affect it has had. ” This flight represents the …

Solar Impulse Word of the Day – Penultimate

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Headlines all over the world are sharing the word of the day – penultimate, meaning the next to the last* – in this case the next to last flight for Solar Impulse 2. The Guardian newspaper explained, “After setting off from Seville on Monday morning, the plane passed through Algerian, Tunisian, Italian and Greek airspace, and flew over the Giza Pyramids before touching down at Cairo airport at around 7.10am (5.10am GMT). Its support crew cheered as the plane, no heavier than a car but with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, landed, and trailed after it on bicycles.” Which brings up a question – why are the guys on foot outrunning the guys on the expensive electric bicycles? Certainly, the flight led to some spectacular photo opportunities. Passing over the Gemasolar plant shortly after takeoff from Seville, Andre’ Borschberg looked down on “The first commercial-scale plant in the world to apply central tower receiver and molten salt heat storage …

Boeing Adds Solar Winglets to Its Solar High-Flyer

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Despite having a wing, horizontal tail, and fuselage top full of solar cells, Solar Impulse 2 needs long days and short nights to make it through the dark periods between recharging.  Even Eric and Irena Raymond’s SunSeeker Duo, a more practical machine, performs only day-long flights so far. Part of this is the nature of sunlight and solar cells, both of which are limited in small areas.  Despite the fact that every hour, each square meter of the upper atmosphere receives 1.367kWh of solar energy, and National Geographic claims that “Every hour the sun beams onto Earth more than enough energy to satisfy global energy needs for an entire year,” it’s hard to harness that energy on a relatively small surface area. Solar cells at their best convert only a small percentage of the energy beamed onto them into usable current.  On Solar Impulse 1, this was about 22.7 percent, according to Sunpower, the cell’s maker.  Newer cells are reported …

Solar Impulse 2 Gets a Jet Escort

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Following a fairly non-eventful crossing of the Atlantic, Bertrand Piccard was greeted by a welcoming formation of Casa C-101 Aviojets, Spain’s Patrulla Águila flight demonstration team. After three days and nights in the air, Piccard landed in the Spanish sunrise, also finalizing efforts to establish the International Committee of Clean Technology (ICCT), whose goal is to continue Solar Impulse’s legacy, “promoting concrete energy efficient solutions in order to solve many of the challenges facing society today.” While “Until recently, protecting the environment was expensive and threatened our society’s comfort, mobility and growth. Today, thanks to modern clean technologies, the energy consumption of the world, and therefore the C02 emissions, could be divided by two, while creating jobs and enhancing profits. The International Committee of Clean Technologies will work in this direction,” Bertrand Piccard and Andre’ Borschberg launched the #futureisclean initiative  a few months ago.  A non-governmental organization composed of 400 global organizations.  It has been endorsed by patrons such as H.S.H. …

EnergyOr Ups the Ante for Endurance

Dean Sigler Fuel Cells, Hybrid Aircraft, Hydrogen Fuel, Sustainable Aviation, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Staying airborne for more than an hour or two might seem like a huge leap for battery-powered electric aircraft.  Inspired designers like Eric Raymond have been able to use solar cells to extend their flights to near-perpetual states.  A large craft like Solar Impulse 2 remains in flight for up to five successive days and nights only through careful energy management and flight planning.  Researchers are looking at hydrogen fuel cells as an alternative to batteries, with the hopes of achieving greater endurance. One company, EnergyOr, has developed two still small fuel cells to power their rotary- and fixed-wing drones, setting several records in the process.  With payloads and maximum takeoff weights that enable carrying a 4K camera or large hydrogen tanks for long range flights, EnergyOr’s aircraft have demonstrated their abilities. The small experimental fuel cell described in our last entry is good news for small-scale drones – until the researchers scale things up to suit larger applications.  Their …

Green Aviation at COP21

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COP21, the Congress of Parties 21 – the 21st gathering of nations and organizations working toward an agreement on reducing greenhouse gases, has concluded with what many conclude to be a historic turn from fossil fuels to cleaner, greener means of powering the world’s economy.  At a gala “SolutionsCOP21 – Celebrate the Champions Night” at the Grand Palais on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, leaders in demonstrating clean energy solutions were honored and awarded. Globe-straddling solar aviation and electric commuter helicopters showed a few of the environmentally conscientious directions aviation has taken and in which sustainable flight can take flight in the near future. Eraole, Mignet’s Formula Redefined Eraole, with its first motor run at COP21, is a tandem-winged cruiser that will fly on a combination of solar power and biologically-derived algae fuel driving its single electric motor.  The 14 meter wings and large horizontal tail provide space for 43 square meters (462.8 square feet) of 24-percent efficient solar cells. These …

Solar Impulse Down, But Not Out

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Following its cliff-hangar five-day flight from Nagoya, Japan to Kalaeloa Airport, Hawaii, Solar Impulse is undergoing an extended period of tender loving care, dedicated rebuilding of its battery packs and insightful reflection on how to avoid future issues. Landing July 3, 2015, Pilot André Borschberg broke the world records for distance along a course (6,825.4 kilometers – 4,231.5 miles), Straight distance, and Duration for solar aviation, as well as the world record for the longest solo flight ever (80 hours and 5,663 km. – 3,511 miles), according to the Solar Impulse web site. If all had gone according to plan, Bertrand Piccard would have hopped on board a few days later and headed for the United States on the second leg of the trans-pacific part of the the team’s around-the-world voyage.  Unfortunately, the rigors of a test flight over Nagoya, followed by a climb to 28,000 feet too soon after that test flight, seems to have doomed at least some of the batteries. …