A prototype of the SolarStratos solar airplane has just made its first flight. In 2018, he will try to reach the stratosphere.
The SolarStratos project has just completed and successfully completed its first test flight with a prototype solar airplane from its base in Payerne, Switzerland. A 7-minute flight that was carried out at an altitude of up to 300 meters, still far from the final objective. Other test flights will soon follow.
With this two-seater, the instigator of the project and Swiss eco-explorer Raphaël Domjan has the ambition to visit the stratosphere. An entirely different journey than that of Solar Impulse which should be made at an altitude of nearly 25,000 meters never reached by a conventional propulsion.
SolarStratos weighs 450 kg and measures 8.5 meters with a wingspan of 24.8 meters offering a surface area of 22 m² for solar cells. It should be able to have an autonomy of more than 24 hours.
At 25 km altitude, and even though it is still far from the space boundary to 100 km, the temperature displays -70 ° C. For reasons of weight, the project explains that the device will not be pressurized. The pilot will then have to wear a pressurized astronaut suit. The latter will only work ... with solar energy.C'est fait, le projet @SolarStratos prend son envol avec un baptême de l'air réussi ce matin à Payerne en #Suisse! 🛩☀️🇨🇭 #SolarStratos pic.twitter.com/ZOkCYrP1PK— Suisse (@Suisse) 5 mai 2017
"The SolarStratos Mission will fly at a very low altitude, in a fragile environment, propelled solely by solar energy, without any emission of pollutant and will give us the possibility to carry out unprecedented measurements, never carried out so far" , Writes the SolarStratos project.
The first stratospheric flight for SolarStratos is expected for 2018. It should last nearly 5 hours with 2 hours of climb and 3 hours to descend and land on the mainland.
suivre Dhaouadi Aymensur
💌 Follow by Email:Digital Channel
🌍🔍 Search Google :digitalchanneltv.tk
Click Index You Might Be Interested