HELIOS HAD CONTROL TROUBLE BEFORE CRASH.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - A solar-powered flying wing experienced control difficulties that sent it oscillating os·cil·late intr.v. os·cil·lat·ed, os·cil·lat·ing, os·cil·lates 1. To swing back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm. 2. back and forth before it broke in half and crashed June 26 off a Hawaiian island, NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. said. About 75 percent of Helios Prototype has been recovered from the Pacific Ocean several miles west of Kauai, though not the fuel cell nighttime power system that the craft was getting ready to test, officials said. ``It's down in Davy Jones' locker,'' National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), Dryden Flight Research Center The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. On March 26, 1976 it was named in honor of the late Hugh L. spokesman Alan Brown
The wreckage will be shipped back to Helios' builder, AeroVironment in Monrovia. Among the recovered debris were the two hydrogen fuel tanks that would have powered the fuel cells. None of the recovered pieces will be reusable because of the damage and salt-water contamination. Formal recovery operations ended Saturday, but officials are continuing to watch the beaches on the west side of Kauai for any debris that washes ashore. NASA and AeroVironment hope to use an earlier, smaller flying wing called Pathfinder-Plus to carry out some of Helios' planned tests, particularly a test for the Japanese government of a communication system for high-speed Internet access. However, Pathfinder-Plus will not be able to carry the hydrogen-powered fuel cell that Helios was planned to test to allow it to stay aloft at night. With a 121-foot wingspan compared with Helios' 247 feet, Pathfinder-Plus does not have the payload capacity to carry the fuel cell, Brown said. A five-person investigation board made of experts from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Noun 1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - an agency in the Department of Commerce that maps the oceans and conserves their living resources; predicts changes to the earth's environment; provides weather reports and forecasts floods and hurricanes and is due to present its crash report by Sept. 30. Helios is part of a NASA effort to develop unmanned aircraft capable of staying aloft for weeks or even months. Such craft could operate essentially as low-flying satellites, by relaying the communications signals or studying the environment. In 2001, Helios set a world altitude record for winged aircraft of 96,863 feet. Pathfinder-Plus set an altitude record of 80,000 feet in 1998 and last summer performed telecommunications and drop-monitoring missions. Charles F. Bostwick, (661) 267-5742 chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion