Had the residents of Landshut, a 13th-century city in Lower Bavaria, chanced to look up at the right time over the last few weeks, they might have glimpsed a bright yellow shape looking back at them. Calin Gologan’s latest Elektra One Solar carries a suite of cameras that can transmit 2D movies in 4K resolution to a ground station up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) away. Through sophisticated software, the images can be translated into 3D maps with a resolution of five centimeters (just under two inches), the primary mission of the flights. Partner ViaLight, a 2009 spin-off of the DLR (the German Aerospace Center), provided the hardware and software that allows up to 100 Gbps (gigabits per second) data transmission speed, and thus enables such high resolution for the aerial images. The system can also transmit “Big Data,” using the high-speed optical links. According to Elektra Solar GmbH, a merger of the companies PC-Aero GmbH and Elektra UAS GmbH, …
SolarStratos Makes First Flight
SolarStratos, a feather-light 450 kilogram (990 pound), solar-powered airplane, lifted off for the first time on May 5 in Payerne, Switzerland. Considering its 24.9 meter (81.69 feet) wingspan, the airplane shows designer Calin Gologan’s ability to squeeze performance from every gram of structure. It flies nicely, too, with test pilot Damian Hischier enthusing, “The plane is very nice to [fly]. [Its] reactions are healthy, and we see that it was well designed.” Sharing Payerne Airport with Solar Impulse, SolarStratos represents a different kind of adventure, ready to make five-hour flights to 75,000 feet (two hours up, five hours down). Such flights can carry a pilot and scientific measuring equipment, or for those lucky enough to have the price of admission, a passenger. Passengers on this high stratospheric journey will need to wear a pressure suit, and undoubtedly undergo hours of training on how to behave at such altitudes. The Pulse reports, “Until now, reaching the stratosphere has required large quantities …