3 ms·
I have to say, I am not impressed with the article... "Perpetual Flight?" I say yes you can probably fly this airplane forever until a motor breaks or something
by GrandMasterBirt 16y ago
I have to say, I am not impressed with the article... "Perpetual Flight?" I say yes you can probably fly this airplane forever until a motor breaks or something BUT there is a big difference between a single pilot airplane that takes a team of people to ensure it does not have the wings scratched and a commercial airliner that runs on solar. While the airliner is awesome if we can pull it off, I would not be surprised if we were 20-50 years away from that.
- iuygtfnh 16y agoBut what about a battlefield surveillance drone that can loiter for months? Or a flying antennae that can provide GSM/Wifi/etc over a festival or disaster site at a few hours notice?
- vollmond 16y agoI'm not sure why "Perpetual Flight" would have anything to do with airliners - typically you would prefer to land those fairly often. This would never need to land, signifying to me that it would be useful as an automated drone of some sort, possibly a cheaper alternative to a geosynchronous satellite.
- gaius 16y agoYou would never need to refuel. You could set down anywhere there was a runway. That massively lowers the barriers to entry of "being an airport".