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there's almost nothing in this article, so here's some related links for anyone interested in the topic: This guy has been iterating on building a solar drone

there's almost nothing in this article, so here's some related links for anyone interested in the topic: This guy has been iterating on building a solar drone for several years now, here's his latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwbJJoe09DI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwbJJoe09DI Here's a presentation on how multi-junction thin film gallium arsenide wafers can achieve a much much higher power-to-weight ratio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7zkGstEf-g&t=1456s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7zkGstEf-g&t=1456s Here's a solar-electric two-seater motor-glider flying last month (ok not a drone): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37-QWbjrho0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37-QWbjrho0 the parts (flight controllers, composites, solar cells, batteries, motors) are mostly all in place now. its a game of integration engineering going forward (kinda like where tesla was when they started the roadster).

fnord77 7y ago
Tesla had Lotus make their chassis for the roadster (minimally modified Elise iirc). I assume there's a suitable airframe manufacturer out there?
- cagenut 7y ago
  If I had the money I'd slap those solar cells (maybe $20k for 4kW) on this electric motor glider (~$150K): https://www.pipistrel-usa.com/taurus-electro/ https://www.pipistrel-usa.com/taurus-electro/ also just nifty option, ardupilot supports autonomous thermaling now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwAX3cPvMqw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwAX3cPvMqw you could creating an autonomous piloting service that used a combination of thermal-hunting and solar-pv to dramatically cut the energy budget required of the batteries. edit: re-thinking your question, I think the real answer is "the entire kit market". In america the regulations allow for people to build their own planes under a certain weight, so companies get around that by selling "kits" that the buyer has to finish assembling themself. so most of the <$100k air "plane" market is already a lotus-like frame you can do stuff with. edit2: for instance, check out this absolute masterpiece of a website where you can buy an ANT-E kit: http://www.newmexicotrikes.com/ant/ant.html http://www.newmexicotrikes.com/ant/ant.html edit3: or this thing https://www.ruppert-composite.ch/en/ https://www.ruppert-composite.ch/en/
  - fnord77 7y ago
    the long continuous overhead wing of the Ruppert plane seems perfect for solar panels the "foot launch" is hilarious

fnord77 7y ago

Tesla had Lotus make their chassis for the roadster (minimally modified Elise iirc). I assume there's a suitable airframe manufacturer out there?

cagenut 7y ago
If I had the money I'd slap those solar cells (maybe $20k for 4kW) on this electric motor glider (~$150K): https://www.pipistrel-usa.com/taurus-electro/ https://www.pipistrel-usa.com/taurus-electro/ also just nifty option, ardupilot supports autonomous thermaling now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwAX3cPvMqw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwAX3cPvMqw you could creating an autonomous piloting service that used a combination of thermal-hunting and solar-pv to dramatically cut the energy budget required of the batteries. edit: re-thinking your question, I think the real answer is "the entire kit market". In america the regulations allow for people to build their own planes under a certain weight, so companies get around that by selling "kits" that the buyer has to finish assembling themself. so most of the <$100k air "plane" market is already a lotus-like frame you can do stuff with. edit2: for instance, check out this absolute masterpiece of a website where you can buy an ANT-E kit: http://www.newmexicotrikes.com/ant/ant.html http://www.newmexicotrikes.com/ant/ant.html edit3: or this thing https://www.ruppert-composite.ch/en/ https://www.ruppert-composite.ch/en/
- fnord77 7y ago
  the long continuous overhead wing of the Ruppert plane seems perfect for solar panels the "foot launch" is hilarious