jthomaslm

7 ms·

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   by jthomaslm 3y ago

   Thanks for sharing. Estimating air mass and solar irradiance are definitely interesting topics - I'll take a look at what you've put together!
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   by jthomaslm 3y ago

   Thanks, I've been training! ;)
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   by jthomaslm 3y ago

   Thanks!
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   by jthomaslm 3y ago

   Thanks, next stop is the stratosphere! :)
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   by jthomaslm 3y ago

   Thanks Lars - I have emailed you!
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   by jthomaslm 3y ago

   Our aim is to fly at higher altitudes than Solar Impulse/SkyDweller, which keeps us above the turbulent winds and cloud cover of the troposphere, and makes long endurance flight more reliable/less weather dependent. Our platform i
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   by jthomaslm 3y ago

   Thanks, wildfires inspired us to work on this technology, so we're excited to see it used in those applications too!
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   by jthomaslm 3y ago

   Thanks, it was a lot of fun!
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   by jthomaslm 3y ago

   Thanks - feel free to reach out if you have any lessons learned you think we should know about! Being a student of history is important for a project like this!
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Absolutely, we think there are some really interesting use cases around imagery too - for exactly these reasons.
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Thanks - appreciate the love!
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Thanks so much, it's a lot of fun to work on. Thanks for the website feedback - for the sake of clarity, our test flights with the sub-scale aircraft have all been at lower altitudes. The stratosphere is the next step and we plan to fl
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    We haven’t put this together, but that’s a great idea!
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Love the enthusiasm - it's definitely a very fun project to be working on! Discussed a few of your questions elsewhere in the comments, but here are some thoughts on scaling laws: Over-simplifying a bit for the sake of brevity: In gene
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Wow, very cool! I've watched plenty of races at the Nurburgring but never stopped to think about how I was receiving the video feeds! If you have any contacts there I'd love to speak to them.
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Flying at 20 km should place us above cloud cover and fire smoke, but the cells do work surprisingly well in diffuse light. Ensuring that we use imaging sensors that can cut through the smoke will be key (most likely LWIR or MWIR)
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Yes, FB were trying something similar to this with Aquila. We actually used to work with a few people on that project, it sounds like the all composite flying-wing design was a bit of a challenge for them. I also understand they weren’t pro
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Quite a lot has changed in the past decade. Li-ion Battery energy density has roughly doubled, solar tech has come a long way (both in efficiency, but also production scale/costs for commercial silicon cells), and there’s been a wave o
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Atlantik Solar was a very cool project, read a lot of their research - count me as a fan :)
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    The aircraft is able to climb under its own power. We have a diurnal energy cycle - charging the battery up through the day and deploying battery energy in the night. If we launch in the morning with a full battery, we have a whole day&#x27
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    This is a concern for us. As with many disruptive technical advancements (e.g. in Nuclear or AI), there are many ways our technology can be used - both good and bad. It's important to us that what we do is ethical - that means supporti
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Wildland forest fires were actually the inspiration for this technology! A year ago Seattle had the worst air quality in the world for a few days, which piqued my interest in the area. Speaking to people in the USFS we learned about the cha
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Yes, Airbus’s project and team is very cool! What we’re doing shares similarities with Zephyr, but we’re focusing on a lower cost system, and a larger payload which will enable more use cases. We’re using conventional silicon solar cells, r
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Each has merits, but in our evaluation, if you are able to overcome the aircraft design challenges, fixed-wing offers a far more capable platform. The stratosphere has winds that can exceed 100km/h. With balloons, station-keeping is an
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    We’ll be hiring in the near future. Early engineering hires will likely be controls/RF/EE focused, and we might bring on some biz dev support.
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    Definitely - in most cases we expect our payloads will draw some power. The power available depends whether you’re looking for continuous or periodic/peak power draws.
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    The 24 hour test was with a sub-scale prototype at low altitudes. It turns out that testing a small aircraft in the thicker air at these altitudes matches some important physics of the larger aircraft (Reynolds number). Perhaps unexpectedly
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    by jthomaslm 3y ago

    There is definitely some market overlap in wireless telecommunications. But there are some distinct differences with satellite services. One big one is that our aircraft isn’t in orbit, so it’s much easier for us to provide targeted coverag
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    Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

    402 points by jthomaslm 3y ago|201 comments