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The Airbus Zephyr is a series of lightweight
solar-powered Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...
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 (UAV). The latest model is a
high-altitude platform station 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 ...
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 British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
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 verified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) for both duration and altitude, at 21,562 metres. It more than doubled the previous endurance record for unmanned flight. The Zephyr system was sold to
EADS Astrium Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18 ...
(now
Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...
) in March 2013, where it was successfully re-flown as part of the
High Altitude Pseudo-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 ...
(HAPS) programme. In 2014 it flew for 11 days in winter, and later near civilian airspace.Bellamy, Woodrow III.
Airbus Zephyr Proves Value For Civil Operations in Middle East
, ''
Aviation Today Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...
'', 1 October 2014. Accessed: 2 October 2014.
In November 2015, in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
, British prime minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
laid out plans during the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, to enhance Great Britain's
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ISTAR stands for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employing its sensors and managing t ...
(ISTAR) capacity. He stated that the UK was to field a "British-designed unmanned aircraft that will fly at the edge of the Earth's atmosphere and allow us to monitor our adversaries for weeks on end, providing critical intelligence for our armed forces." A purchase of two Zephyr 8 planes was reported in February 2016. In August 2016
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
confirmed the purchase of a third Zephyr 8 platform. In summer 2018 for its maiden flight from Arizona, the Zephyr S remained aloft for 25 days 23 hours 57 minutes, nearly twice as long as the previous record flight of 14 days set by its predecessor. It used Amprius
lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...
with
silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic tab ...
nanowire A nanowire is a nanostructure in the form of a wire with the diameter of the order of a nanometre (10−9 metres). More generally, nanowires can be defined as structures that have a thickness or diameter constrained to tens of nanometers or less ...
anodes for a 435 Wh/kg
specific energy Specific energy or massic energy is energy per unit mass. It is also sometimes called gravimetric energy density, which is not to be confused with energy density, which is defined as energy per unit volume. It is used to quantify, for example, sto ...
up from 300–320 Wh/kg. High-efficiency, lightweight, and flexible inverted metamorphic (IMM) multi-junction epitaxial lift-off (ELO)
GaAs Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a zinc blende crystal structure. Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circui ...
solar cell sheets manufactured b
MicroLink Devices
provided the solar power with specific powers exceeding 1,500 W/kg and areal powers greater than 350 W/m2. In addition to Zephyr 8, otherwise known as Zephyr S, full-scale flight testing was scheduled for a twin-tailed Zephyr T variant in 2018 aimed at providing a maritime surveillance and communications capability. In July 2022, Zephyr S spent 26 days airborne, breaking its previous record from 2018. The flight began on 15 June in
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, and by 22 July the plane was still flying after being aloft for 36 days. It marked the Zephyr's first venture into international airspace and over water, and its longest continuous flight using satellite communication controls. By 5 August, it had reached 50 days of continuous flight. On 19 August 2022, the plane was lost over a desert in Arizona with no personal injury reported after a flight time of 64 days.The Airbus Zephyr Comes Crashing Down In Arizona
''Simple Flying''. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
It flew over the southern United States, the Gulf of Mexico, and South America, covering a distance of 30,000 nmi (35,000 mi, 56,000 km) during the course of the flight.


Design

The Zephyr 6 is of
carbon-fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
construction and uses sunlight to charge a lithium–sulphur battery during the day, which powers the aircraft at night. The aircraft has been designed for use in observation and communications relay. The vehicle can circle over a particular area for extended periods, with particular emphasis on its potential civil and military applications as an Earth-observation and communications platform. During the day, Zephyr uses its solar cells spread across its wings to recharge high-power lithium–sulphur batteries and drive two propellers. At night, the energy stored in the batteries is sufficient to maintain Zephyr in the sky. The lithium–sulphur batteries are supplied by Sion, and the first version had a battery capacity of 3 kW·h. Zephyr 7 was larger, at 53 kg, and capable of a maximum altitude between 65,000 and 70,000 feet, it required five ground crew to launch, as opposed to three previously for the Zephyr 6. The Zephyr 8 has roughly 24 kg of batteries and a 5 kg payload, and is 30% lighter and carry 50% more batteries than the Zephyr 7. It has a 25-metre wingspan. By October 2021, it had flown 2,435 hours. Zephyr is under consideration for use as an airborne communication station, offering the possibility of replacing 250 cell sites. It can be used to perform
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ISTAR stands for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employing its sensors and managing t ...
(ISR) with a wide visual payload coverage of 20×30 km (12.4×18.6 mi) and can be equipped with radar,
LIDAR Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...
and infrared technologies.


Specifications


Accidents and incidents

, three hull losses have been reported: * March 2019, Wyndham, Western Australia * 28 September 2019, Wyndham, Western Australia, during the first flight after the first incident in March 2019 * 19 August 2022, Arizona, just before breaking the record for the longest flight of any aircraft (a total of 64 days)


See also

*
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 ...
* SoLong *
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 ...
* Vulture (UAV) *
Air Strato AirStrato is a solar powered medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicle that was being developed by ARCAspace. There were two variants planned, AirStrato Explorer with a target flight ceiling of 18,000 m and AirStrato Pioneer with a target flight ceilin ...


Notes and references


External links

* * {{Photovoltaics 2000s British experimental aircraft
Zephyr In European tradition, a zephyr is a light wind or a west wind, named after Zephyrus, the Greek god or personification of the west wind. Zephyr may also refer to: Arts and media Fiction Fiction media * ''Zephyr'' (film), a 2010 Turkish ...
Solar-powered aircraft Unmanned military aircraft of the United Kingdom High-altitude and long endurance aircraft Airbus Defence and Space aircraft