RUN BY THE SUN : WIRELESS SERVICES MAY RECEIVE A LIFT FROM SOLAR-POWERED PLANE.

Byline: Russ Britt Daily News Staff Writer

Its wings look like a giant surfboard and its fuselage is no bigger around than a coffee can, but a team of aerospace executives and academic researchers think a new solar-powered plane can fly.

Engineers at UCLA, Rockwell International Corp. and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration unveiled a prototype of an oblong, unmanned aircraft Wednesday designed to carry communications equipment for wireless services. The aircraft would fly 12 miles above the Earth and offer some of the capability that communications satellites have for a fraction of the cost.

And it wouldn't take a space shuttle to get them airborne either.

``You launch them from a truck at a dazzling speed of 20 miles per hour,'' said Bill Andrews, spokesman for the UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The key to getting the aircraft - with a 43-foot wingspan, a pole-shaped fuselage, a small propeller and a crude set of controls - to altitudes higher than those used by jumbo jets is to get several into the air at once. Borrowing a concept from nature, engineers believe that if these aircraft fly in the same ``V'' formations used by geese it will improve fuel efficiency.

Engineers also think that if the aircraft fly high enough it will also cut down on drag.

``At 62,000 to 68,000 feet, there's no weather, no turbulence, no birds and very little air,'' Andrews said. ``There's nothing to get in the way.''

The growing market in personal communications devices is expected to spawn a need for satellites and other high-flying aircraft to transmit communications between individuals. Personal communications devices include cellular phones, pagers and remote computers.

For organizations or countries that cannot afford $100 million satellites - envisioned as the common vehicle for future communications needs - a fleet of the solar-powered wings could prove a viable alternative at $5 million, said Jerry Miller, project manager for Rockwell. The aircraft, however, would cover a 100-mile diameter while satellites can blanket several states from space.

Miller, who was involved in such billion-dollar projects as the B-1 bomber for Rockwell, said the total spent thus far on the planes is a paltry $1.25 million. The project was borne from an interest in solar-powered flight, but developed when he found it could be used for communications services.

``People have been slowly warming up to it,'' he said. ``The world is going commercial. You have to develop your markets and prices for yourself.''

Engineers hope to get the first aircraft flying next month and start tests on a fleet later in the summer.

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Photo: (Color) UCLA students view a prototype aircraft Wedn esday designed to offer personal communication services.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News