SOLAR-POWERED CRAFT TESTS SET.Byline: Jim Skeen 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 flying wing with ties to Edwards will make a functional flight check Friday in preparation for a record-setting, 100,000-foot-high flight over the Pacific Ocean. Helios, a solar-powered, propeller-driven aircraft, is expected to make a 14-hour flight off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The flight will verify proper operation of aircraft systems at a range of altitudes. ``This will be the first time Helios has flown under solar power,'' 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), spokesman Alan Brown
Previously, Helios has flown using battery power. The attempt to reach 100,000 feet could come as early as this month, provided Friday's flight goes well. Reaching 100,000 feet would shatter the existing altitude record for a propeller-driven airplane by more than 20,000 feet. The flight testing is being conducted under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology program. ERAST ERAST Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (NASA) is aimed at developing technologies leading to the creation of aircraft that can fly at very high altitudes and stay there for hours - even days - at a time. Such aircraft could serve as inexpensive platforms for instruments to study Earth and its atmosphere. They also could help study natural and man-made changes to the atmosphere and the world's oceans. Developed by AeroVironment Inc. of Monrovia, Helios has two objectives: to reach 100,000 feet and to demonstrate nonstop flying for at least four days above 50,000 feet. NASA's 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. at Edwards oversees the ERAST program. Initial development flights of Helios, as well as those of earlier versions of the airplane, were conducted at Dryden. Helios is only 12 feet long, but it has a 247-foot wingspan - about 100 feet longer than that of a Boeing 747 jetliner. The airplane's cruising speed cruising speed n → velocidad f de crucero cruising speed n → vitesse f de croisière cruising speed cruise n ranges from 19 to 25 mph. The airplane is made of lightweight composite materials, such as carbon fiber and graphite epoxy epoxy Any of a class of thermosetting polymers, polyethers built up from monomers with an ether group that takes the form of a three-membered epoxide ring. The familiar two-part epoxy adhesives consist of a resin with epoxide rings at the ends of its molecules and a curing , which are used in the B-2 stealth bomber, and Kevlar, which is used in the making of bulletproof Refers to extremely stable hardware and/or software that cannot be brought down no matter what unusual conditions arise. See industrial strength. bulletproof - Used of an algorithm or implementation considered extremely robust; lossage-resistant; capable of correctly vests. Helios has flown under different names, changing monikers as it has grown in size and sophistication so·phis·ti·cate v. so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates v.tr. 1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly. 2. . In the early 1980s, it was known as Pathfinder and had a wingspan of just over 98 feet. That version was powered by eight electric motors. By the time the aircraft was adopted into the ERAST project The Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology, or ERAST project is a NASA initiative to develop new technologies for civil use of remotely operated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). in late 1993, solar cells had been added, eventually covering the entire upper surface of the wing. Pathfinder set a solar-powered altitude record of 50,500 feet at Edwards on Sept. 11, 1995. It later upped that mark to 71,530 feet during flight tests from Kauai. The airplane was modified again, this time with a longer center section that increased the wingspan to 121 feet to provide more room for solar panels. That aircraft was dubbed Pathfinder Plus. Pathfinder Plus evolved into Centurion. That aircraft featured a redesigned airfoil and its wingspan now stretched to 206 feet. That aircraft was powered by 14 electric motors. Centurion was modified into Helios by lengthening the wingspan to allow for the installation of more solar arrays. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Helios, an Edwards Air Force Base-developed craft with more wing than plane, powered by solar panels, will undergo high-altitude testing off Kauai. Tom Tschida/NASA Dryden |
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