Carbon composite dense solar drone sets new flight time record

high altitude platform system，HAPS

The carbon-composite-intensive Zephyr drone, developed by Airbus in partnership with the U.S. Army, recently set a new record for unmanned flight duration of 42 days, building on the 36 days the drone flew in the stratosphere last September.

The Zephyr drone took off from the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground on June 15 of this year and has been flying over Yuma Proving Ground and the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge ever since. Following the current record-breaking flight, Zephyr will be tested over the Pacific Ocean in the coming weeks with a payload developed by the U.S. Army.

Also known as the High Altitude Platform Station (high altitude platform system, HAPS), the Zephyr drone is solar-powered and designed to fly long-duration missions. Recent flights have demonstrated the solar-powered UAV's energy storage capacity and solar panel efficiency, which will allow the Army to use the UAV for these extended missions, which can last for months at a time.

The Zephyr UAV has a narrow fuselage but a wingspan of 82 feet (25 meters), and the aircraft weighs just 165 pounds (75 kg) thanks to a carbon fiber composite fuselage. The lightweight construction allows the Zephyr UAV to carry a payload of up to 50 pounds (22.5 kg) at 70,000 feet (21,340 meters), including optical, infrared, LIDAR and hyperspectral sensors, radar and synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and even early warning systems.

The Zephyr UAV is also used to observe a 12 x 18-mile (20 x 30 km) ground area, which will allow the Army to use it for security surveillance. These capabilities, combined with the Zephyr's unique endurance, make it ideal for operations such as maritime security or border surveillance, where it can continuously monitor a given location for up to several weeks.

About Proximity Space UAVs

Proximity space refers to the area that is higher than the flight altitude of ordinary aircraft and lower than the operation space of orbiting aircraft, generally refers to the airspace of 20-100km from the ground. In the near space, the solar radiation is close to outer space and is less affected by meteorological conditions. Flying in this airspace, solar vehicles can maximize the use of solar energy and have the characteristics of ultra-long flight time to achieve continuous flight for months to years.

Proximity Solar UAV (abbreviation: Proximity UAV) is an unmanned aerial vehicle that uses solar radiation energy to power continuous flight at high altitude for more than a few weeks in the proximity space region. It uses photovoltaic cells to convert solar energy into electrical energy and generates flight power through electric motors driving propeller rotation. If we do not consider the life of the components, this kind of vehicle can theoretically achieve "permanent flight", with "quasi-satellite" characteristics, also known as "atmospheric satellite", can replace the low orbit It can replace some of the functions of LEO satellites.

Due to the advantages of flexible deployment and good economy, long-endurance near-space solar UAVs have become the ideal aerial platform for intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance and communication relay missions. It can be widely used in the field of civil-military integration, including major natural disaster warning, normalized sea area supervision, emergency rescue and disaster relief, anti-terrorism and stability maintenance and other areas of public welfare, as well as remote areas of Internet wireless access, mobile communications, digital TV signal broadcasting and other commercial and industrial fields.

Based on the demand of light weight, high stiffness and other characteristics, high-mode high-strength carbon fiber composite materials with high stiffness and high strength must be used in the near space UAV system; in September 2021, the "high-mode high-strength carbon fiber (CNI QM55 grade) localization key technology research and development and in the near space UAV central wing main beam of the carbon fiber team undertaken by Ningbo Institute of Materials The project has successfully completed the stable preparation of domestic high-mode high-strength carbon fiber, the optimization and improvement of composite material performance, the molding and processing of large structural parts and the flight verification, thus providing a localized material solution for the development of domestic near-space unmanned aircraft.