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NASA Centurion
The NASA Centurion was the third aircraft developed as part of an evolutionary series of solar- and fuel-cell-system-powered unmanned aerial vehicles. AeroVironment, Inc. developed the vehicles under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program. They were built to develop the technologies that would allow long-term, high-altitude aircraft to serve as atmospheric satellites, to perform atmospheric research tasks as well as serve as communications platforms. It was developed from the NASA Pathfinder Plus aircraft and was developed into the NASA Helios. Centurion Centurion, originally built for the altitude on solar power milestone specified by the ERAST project, was the third generation aircraft in the NASA Pathfinder series of electrical-powered flying wing unmanned aircraft. The ERAST program managers had determined that an aircraft based on the Pathfinder/Pathfinder Plus concept would be the lowest risk approach of achieving the altitude goal. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller and a system of communications with the UAV. The flight of UAVs may operate under remote control by a human operator, as remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA), or with various degrees of autonomy, such as autopilot assistance, up to fully autonomous aircraft that have no provision for human intervention. UAVs were originally developed through the twentieth century for military missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous" for humans, and by the twenty-first, they had become essential assets to most militaries. As control technologies improved and costs fell, their use expanded to many non-military applications.Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Jang, I.; Arvin, F.; Lanzon, A.,A Decentralized Cluster Formation Containment Framework for Multirobot Systems IEEE ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Aircraft Evolution Through The ERAST Program
Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. " solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate the position of the Earth on its revolution around the Sun * Solar Maximum Mission, a satellite * SOLAR (ISS), an observatory on International Space Station Music * "Solar" (composition), attributed to Miles Davis * ''Solar'' (Red Garland album), 1962 * ''Solar'' (Taeyang album), 2010 * ''Solar'', a 2011 album by Rubik * "Solar", a song by Northlane from ''Mesmer'', 2017 * SOLAR Records, a record label Geography * Solar (Spanish term), a type of urban site * Solar, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * Solar, Erode, India * Solar, Iran, Iran Companies * Solar Entertainment Corporation, a Philippines television and radio media company * Solar TV, a former TV channel * Solar Television Network, Inc., a former ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Of The United States
An uncrewed vehicle or unmanned vehicle is a vehicle without a person on board. Uncrewed vehicles can either be under telerobotic control—remote controlled or remote guided vehicles—or they can be autonomously controlled—autonomous vehicles—which are capable of sensing their environment and navigating on their own. Types There are different types of uncrewed vehicles: * Remote control vehicle (RC), such as radio-controlled cars or radio-controlled aircraft * Unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), such as the autonomous cars, or unmanned combat vehicles (UCGV) * Unmanned ground and aerial vehicle (UGAV), unmanned vehicle with hybrid locomotion methods * Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), unmanned aircraft commonly known as "drone" ** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) ** Medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (MALE) ** Miniature UAV (SUAV) ** Delivery drone ** Micro air vehicle (MAV) ** Target drone * Autonomous spaceport drone ship * Uncrewed surface vehicle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar-powered Aircraft
An electric aircraft is an aircraft powered by electricity. Electric aircraft are seen as a way to reduce the environmental effects of aviation, providing zero emissions and quieter flights. Electricity may be supplied by a variety of methods, the most common being batteries. Most have electric motors driving propellers or turbines. Crewed flights in an electrically powered airship go back to the 19th century, and to 1917 for a tethered helicopter. Electrically powered model aircraft have been flown at least since the 1970s, preceding the small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones used today. Small UAS could be used for parcel deliveries, and larger ones for long-endurance applications: aerial imagery, surveillance, telecommunications. The first crewed free flight by an electrically powered aeroplane, the MB-E1, was made in 1973, and most crewed electric aircraft today are still only experimental prototypes. Between 2015 and 2016, Solar Impulse 2 completed a circu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA Aircraft
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to give the U.S. space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. NASA has since led most American space exploration, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968-1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. NASA supports the International Space Station and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the crewed lunar Artemis program, Commercial Crew spacecraft, and the planned Lunar Gateway space station. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program, which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it is the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. ''Scientific American'' is owned by Springer Nature, which in turn is a subsidiary of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. History ''Scientific American'' was founded by inventor and publisher Rufus Porter in 1845 as a four-page weekly newspaper. The first issue of the large format newspaper was released August 28, 1845. Throughout its early years, much emphasis was placed on reports of what was going on at the U.S. Patent Office. It also reported on a broad range of inventions including perpetual motion machines, an 1860 device for buoying vessels by Abraham Lincoln, and the universal joint which now can be found in nearly every automobile manufactured. Current issues includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Impulse Project
Solar Impulse is a Swiss long-range experimental solar-powered aircraft project, and also the name of the project's two operational aircraft. The privately financed project is led by Swiss engineer and businessman André Borschberg and Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist Bertrand Piccard, who co-piloted ''Breitling Orbiter 3'', the first balloon to circle the world non-stop. The Solar Impulse project's goals were to make the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power and to bring attention to clean technologies. The aircraft is a single-seated monoplane powered by photovoltaic cells; it is capable of taking off under its own power. The prototype, often referred to as ''Solar Impulse 1'', was designed to remain airborne up to 36 hours. It conducted its first test flight in December 2009. In July 2010, it flew an entire diurnal solar cycle, including nearly nine hours of night flying, in a 26-hour flight. Piccard and Borschberg com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scaled Composites Proteus
The Scaled Composites Model 281 Proteus is a tandem-wing high-altitude long-endurance aircraft designed by Burt Rutan to investigate the use of aircraft as high-altitude telecommunications relays. The Proteus is a multi-mission vehicle able to carry various payloads on a ventral pylon. The Proteus has an extremely efficient design and can orbit a point at over 19,800 m for more than 18 hours. It is currently owned by Northrop Grumman. Design and development Proteus has an all-composite airframe with graphite-epoxy sandwich construction. Its wingspan of is expandable to with removable wingtips installed. Proteus is an "optionally piloted" aircraft ordinarily flown by two pilots in a pressurized cabin. However, it also has the capability to perform its missions semi-autonomously or flown remotely from the ground. Under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center assisted Scaled Composites in dev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regenerative Fuel Cell
A regenerative fuel cell or reverse fuel cell (RFC) is a fuel cell run in reverse mode, which consumes electricity and chemical B to produce chemical A. By definition, the process of any fuel cell could be reversed. However, a given device is usually optimized for operating in one mode and may not be built in such a way that it can be operated backwards. Standard fuel cells operated backwards generally do not make very efficient systems unless they are purpose-built to do so as with high-pressure electrolysers, regenerative fuel cells, solid-oxide electrolyser cells and unitized regenerative fuel cells. Process description A hydrogen fueled proton exchange membrane fuel cell, for example, uses hydrogen gas (H2) and oxygen (O2) to produce electricity and water (H2O); a regenerative hydrogen fuel cell uses electricity and water to produce hydrogen and oxygen. When the fuel cell is operated in regenerative mode, the anode for the electricity production mode (fuel cell mode) becomes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pegasus UAV
The Pegasus UAV is a Solar energy, solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle, unmanned aircraft developed by Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO). It is being created from the cooperation between the Flemish Institute for Technological Research and Alcatel-Lucent, Alcatel. It aims to hook up into European Space Agency, ESA's earth monitoring system Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, GMES, and will also be used for disaster preparedness and environmental monitoring. It is similar (though smaller) than the NASA Pathfinder, Helios, and of the same size as thDLR UAVand ESA Heliplat. External links Pegasus UAV Main Website Solar-powered aircraft {{UAV-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
QinetiQ Zephyr
The Airbus Zephyr is a series of lightweight solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The latest model is a high-altitude platform station capable of flying at for months at a time without fueling. It has a wingspan of and weighs . Development The Zephyr was originally designed and built in 2003 by the British defence contractor QinetiQ. In a 2008 demonstration for the US military, Zephyr 6 (a smaller-scale version) broke the official world record for the longest-duration unmanned flight, however its 82-hour flight at an altitude of did not set an official record because FAI officials were not involved in the flight. The Zephyr 7 holds the official endurance record for an unrefuelled, unmanned aerial vehicle with its flight from 9 to 23 July 2010, lasting 336 hours, 22 minutes and 8 seconds (14 days, 22 min, 8 s). It could remain airborne for months thanks to its solar cells and rechargeable batteries. Record claims have been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
