The Odysseus is a solar, High-Altitude Long Endurance drone developed by Aurora Flight Sciences.
Development
Aurora Flight Sciences announced the Odysseus in November 2018.[1] In spring 2019, Aurora planned to fly a High-Altitude Long Endurance drone powered by solar cells and batteries, Odysseus, to study the Earth atmosphere or as a military pseudo-satellite for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.[2] The 74.1 m (243 ft) wide carbon fibre aircraft should weigh less than a 880 kg (1,940 lb) Smart Car, can carry a 25 kg (55 lb) payload with 250W provided during several months of endurance.[2] It would compete with the Airbus Zephyr ordered by the UK Ministry of Defence and visited by the U.S. Army Futures Command, the BAE Systems-Prismatic Ltd UAV, and the AeroVironment-SoftBank telecommunications UAV.[2] The bendable wing has fiberglass upper skin panels and plastic film undersides, three tails and six propellers, with roll controlled by the outboard tails.[3] It used available, low-risk, lithium polymer batteries and gallium arsenide thin-film solar cells and first test flights were to be powered by batteries only.[3] It was designed to stay day and night above 65,000 ft (20,000 m) up to three months at latitudes up to 20°.[4] First flight was planned for April 2019 in Puerto Rico, before investigating ozone depletion in the summer over the US Midwest. [4] Its first flight was indefinitely delayed by July 2019.[1]
See also
- AeroVironment Global Observer
- Airbus Zephyr
- Aurora Flight Sciences Orion
- Boeing SolarEagle
- Facebook Aquila
References
- ^ a b Pat Host (9 July 2019). "Aurora indefinitely delays first flight of Odysseus ultra-long-endurance UAV". Jane's.
- ^ a b c Garrett Reim (14 Nov 2018). "Aurora Flight Science's long-endurance drone to make first flight in spring 2019". Flightglobal.
- ^ a b Graham Warwick (Nov 14, 2018). "This Is Aurora's Massive Solar-Powered Stratospheric Unmanned Aircraft". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
- ^ a b Graham Warwick (Nov 22, 2018). "Anatomy Of Aurora Flight Sciences' Odysseus". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
External links
- Official website
- Graham Warwick (Nov 14, 2018). "Aurora Builds Stratospheric Solar Aircraft With Boeing's Backing". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
- Graham Warwick (Nov 14, 2018). "This Is Aurora's Massive Solar-Powered Stratospheric Unmanned Aircraft". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
- Graham Warwick (Nov 22, 2018). "A Closer Look At Aurora's Solar Stratospheric Odysseus". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
This page was last edited on 8 September 2023, at 23:21