The NASA Centurion was the third aircraft developed as part of an evolutionary series of
solar- and
fuel-cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requi ...
-system-powered
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 ...
s.
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 satellite
Atmospheric satellite (United States usage, abbreviated atmosat) or pseudo-satellite (British usage) is a marketing term for an aircraft that operates in the atmosphere at high altitudes for extended periods of time, in order to provide servic ...
s, to perform atmospheric research tasks as well as serve as communications platforms.
[NASA Helios factsheet]
/ref> It was developed from the NASA Pathfinder Plus aircraft and was developed into the NASA Helios
The Helios Prototype was the fourth and final 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 A ...
.
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
The NASA Pathfinder and NASA Pathfinder Plus were the first two 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 Envi ...
series of electrical-powered flying wing
A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage, with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blis ...
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.[NASA Centurion fact sheet, archived at archive.org, accessed September 8, 2008]
/ref>
Initially, a quarter-scale model of the Centurion was test flown at El Mirage Dry Lake
El Mirage Lake is a dry lake bed in the northwestern Victor Valley of the central Mojave Desert, within San Bernardino County, California.
The lake is located about west-northwest of the town of Adelanto and north of Highway 18 in San Bernardi ...
on March 4, 1997. The full-size Centurion's maiden flight took place at Rogers Dry Lake
Rogers Dry Lake is an endorheic desert salt pan in the Mojave Desert of Kern County, California. The lake derives its name from the Anglicization from the Spanish name, Rodriguez Dry Lake. It is the central part of Edwards Air Force Base as its ...
on November 10, 1998, and lasted a total of 1 hr and 24 minutes. At the time, it weighed in at (including a steel anvil hanging on its centerline to simulate a payload) for its first flight. The flight was nearly flawless and was followed by a second similar performance on November 19, this time before a crowd of VIPs and Media. It lasted 1 hr and 29 minutes. The third and final flight of the low altitude test series took place on December 3. On this flight the vehicle was loaded down to its maximum gross weight of to test its weight carrying capability. Total flight time on this flight was 30 minutes, as it was shortened because high winds were anticipated by mid-morning. All of these flights took place on battery power and verified the design's handling qualities Flying qualities is one of the three principal regimes in the science of flight test, which also includes performance and systems. Flying qualities involves the study and evaluation of the stability and control characteristics of an aircraft. They h ...
, performance, and structural integrity. Following these three flights, NASA decided to expand the aircraft into the Helios Prototype
The Helios Prototype was the fourth and final 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 A ...
, with work starting in January, 1999.[
]
Aircraft description
The design of Centurion resulted in an aircraft that looked very much like the Pathfinder, but with a much longer wingspan of . Although the Centurion shape resembled the Pathfinder, the structure was designed to be stronger and capable of carrying numerous payloads (up to ) more efficiently. Its wing incorporated a redesigned high-altitude airfoil and the span was increased to . The number of motors was increased to 14 and the number of underwing pods to carry batteries, flight control system components, ballast, and landing gear rose to four.[
]
Specifications
See also
* The prehistory of endurance UAVs
*Electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...
*Electric 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, ...
*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 .
Deve ...
*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 R ...
*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 usuall ...
*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 ...
*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 p ...
References
''This article contains material that originally came from the web articl
"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles"
by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain.''
*
Photovoltaic Finesse
Better Solar Cells—with Wires Where the Sun Don't Shine", an article by Daniel Cho on page thirty-three of the September, 2003 issue of ''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 i ...
''
External links
NASA's Helios Project
Helios model by DesignsbyALX
* ttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/08/980819081740.htm ''Science Daily'' article on Pathfinder Plus altitude record
Telecom relay achievements at ''Airport International''
* ttp://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/in_the_museum-jj07.html Pathfinder Plus at NASMbr>Helios crash article
Helios record attempt article
* NASA image collections:
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{{NASA navbox
Centurion
A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...
NASA aircraft
Solar-powered aircraft
Unmanned aerial vehicles of the United States
1990s United States experimental aircraft
Fourteen-engined tractor aircraft
Flying wings
Aircraft first flown in 1998
High-altitude and long endurance aircraft