Swiss developers began testing solar aircraft designed to fly in the stratosphere. The first flight was at a height of 300 meters and lasted for about seven minutes.
On the wings of the aircraft placed solar panels that produce energy for the engine is 32 kW and simultaneously charge the Li-ion battery at 20 kW. Wingspan SolarStratos is approximately 25 meters in length — 8.5 meters long and weighs a little more than 450 kg.
To facilitate the construction of the cockpit is not insulated and not sealed, so the pilots will fly it in special space suits, capable of withstanding temperatures up to minus 56 degrees Celsius.
Ascent at 24 thousand feet is the plane about two hours. According to the developers, to fully fly the aircraft in 2019, and until then he will undergo a number of tests and modifications of the structure.
Despite the fact that the launch SolarStratos will cost $ 10 million, the developers are confident that these planes will be in demand in the future — flights to the edge of space will allow to study and to entertain tourists.
Recommended
The Americans on the moon: what everyone should know?
the Upcoming cosmonautics day is my favorite holiday. It marks the triumph of the human mind: in just four thousand years Homo Sapiens went from hunter-gatherers to space explorers. 12 April 1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in ...
Why are some galaxies spiral shaped?
you Know what surprised me the most? The fact that we perceive the surrounding world as it is. Animals, plants, the laws of physics and the cosmos are perceived by many people as something so mundane and boring that they invent fairies, ghosts, monst...
Astronomers were able to see the death of another star system
In the cosmic ocean drifts a lot of mysteries about the existence of which we are unaware. One of these was uncovered five years ago, when astronomers have discovered a lonely star at a distance of 570 light years from Earth, the brightness of which ...
Related News
NASA decided to abandon the ISS and focus on Mars
the American space Agency NASA has declared the need to reduce funding of the International space station to 2024 and redirect these funds to develop programs for training humans to Mars. "the ISS for NASA is a very serious issue...
The Vatican has invited leading scientists to discuss cosmology
Time passes and attitudes change along with it. Once for talking about space and the round shape of the Earth, you were severely punished, but in our days mind the scientific facts to go becomes more difficult. And it understands ...
10 amazing anomalous space objects
the universe is so vast that, statistically, it just have to be very similar to each other. Many of the stars, planets and other bodies, at least in part, or otherwise have similar characteristics. However, there are many of these...
Stephen Hawking: to "doomsday" humanity has left 100 years
Over the last hundred years of its history, mankind has made a huge innovative leap. We learned to fly (at least with airplanes and helicopters), to build a giant machine, curing once incurable diseases, has developed a computer, ...
Startup Vector Space Systems has tested a five-ton rocket
last Spring, two employees of SpaceX, who founded the company, founded a startup Vector Space Systems, in which decided to develop a small commercial rockets. A year after founding, the company reported the successful test run of ...
#gallery | This amazing Solar system
Over the past few years, the activity and the scale of Solar system research have become much higher volumes of studies observed in the last few decades. The rate of these studies and don't think to slow down. Humanity began to ad...
Is extraterrestrial life, it might be better to look for extraterrestrial technology?
Those familiar with the cosmic strategy Stellaris probably know that one of the key points before the meeting with some kind of ancient intelligent life is the definition of the trace technology of this civilization. Although the ...
If a clean moonless night to go out of town and look at the sky, you can see about three thousand shimmering points. From childhood we are taught that if it doesn't flicker, then it's a planet. If moving, then it's a satellite or ...
Frames of solar panels have been successfully tested in space
less than a year ago was the commissioning of a small spacecraft called «Stork-2D». Besides the historical value, this event was unique in that it is «Stork-2D» has been equipped with the latest ultra-light fra...
Space is scary. Hard. Despite the fact that have been in space already more than five hundred people, not all of them returned alive. Climb to a height of four hundred miles, to set foot on the moon or conquer another planet — a j...
The tourist spaceship, Virgin Galactic has made another test flight
on Monday passed the next test suborbital spacecraft SpaceShipTwo Unity, developed by the company Virgin Galactic. During a test flight, engineers tested the system, which should help the vehicle to carry out aerodynamic braking w...
Ridley Scott believes in aliens and believes that they can kill all of us
Ridley Scott for almost 40 years at the helm of kynoselen about the alien killers from outer space. And as it turns out, it's not a coincidence, since Scott believes that similar events with people can happen in reality. In an int...
The first stage of Falcon 9 made a successful landing after the launch of a secret satellite
the Launch took place at 14:15 Moscow time from the cosmodrome on Cape Canaveral. Aboard the rocket was a secret , the purpose of which is kept secret. It is known that the National office of the military space U.S. intelligence h...
#video | the Cosmic beauty, created using the normal color inks
Using the most common materials at hand from our surroundings, can create such incredible beauty that she will be envied by talented artists and photographers. The guys YouTube channel and Macro Room actively experimenting with ma...
China is discussing with ESA the possibility of building a lunar orbital base
Representatives of China national space administration and European space Agency are currently leading the discussion about the potential cooperation in the construction of the orbital lunar base, as well as possible other joint p...
Houston, we have a problem: NASA ends space suits
According to the latest audit analysis of the space Agency NASA, a little bit more and the Agency will experience a shortage of space suits. New suits for NASA, which it plans to use for flights into space are in development, but ...
RSC Energia is working on a competitor to the Falcon 9 from SpaceX
the Head of RKK «Energy» Vladimir Solntsev said that the Corporation together with other companies working on the creation of new missiles, capable of competing with SpaceX rockets. «RSC «Energy» offers ...
The lack of funding disrupts the timing of the implementation of major projects NASA
If you believe that funding problems are relevant only for the Russian space program, are greatly mistaken. The us space Agency NASA has come to the conclusion that a number of its major projects cannot be implemented according to...
SpaceX will send into orbit a spy satellite, U.S. military intelligence
the Official SpaceX account on Twitter confirmed that the preparation of the next launch of the carrier rocket Falcon 9 is in full swing. The launch will take place on April 30th, this Sunday, but no one knows the exact time. The ...
The first "Martians" from NASA will be very hard
for Years, NASA promises to send people to Mars on their huge new rocket the Space Launch System (SLS) and the new spacecraft "Orion". However, approximately the same amount of time from the Agency could not obtain details about h...
Comments (0)
This article has no comment, be the first!