[pf] Science "fiction" (fact) in Hawaii on July 5

· I find this _very_ exciting - 14 "hair-dryer" motors!; I'd love to be
there at Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range, and see it take off!

{Note: these URLs may have the "1" (one) at the end dropped-off. Add it
after you've clicked to get the shortened URL into the browser window.}  D.

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11344&newsDate=27-Jun-2001
  is:
       NASA readies solar-powered, high-altitude plane - unmanned
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USA: June 27, 2001

LOS ANGELES - When U.S. space scientists send a $15 million, solar-powered
experimental plane into the skies over Hawaii sometime in July, it will
achieve top speeds no faster than a bicycle, powered by 14 electric motors
not much stronger than hair dryers. 

But NASA project scientists hope the Helios prototype - which appears to be
made of a translucent wing 250-feet (76 metres) long and looking like a
flying boomerang - will shatter altitude records, help them understand how
to fly on Mars and ultimately pioneer a new era in satellites.
NASA has billed the unmanned, remotely piloted Helios as the first step
toward an aircraft that will soar at 100,000 feet (30,500 metres) - or
20,000 feet (6,000 metres) above the current record for a propeller-drive
airplane and more than three times higher than commercial jets routinely
travel.

The current record of 80,000 feet (24,380 metres) was set in 1998 by
Pathfinder Plus, a predecessor of the Helios built as part of the same
program.

But of equal importance, NASA project manager John Del Frate said, Helios
would be designed to take advantage of the solar array along its giant
wingspan - which is greater than that of a Boeing 747 airliner - to
eventually stay at that altitude for months at a time, essentially
operating as a low-cost satellite that could land for repairs.

"For a lot of reasons this sort of airplane could be more attractive than a
satellite," Del Frate said, including its ability to target areas such as
busy suburbs more precisely, because it would fly near Earth instead of in
space orbit.

Helios was designed by NASA and privately held AeroVironment Inc., under
the space agency's cooperative Environmental Research and Sensor Technology
(EAST) program, which is intended to produce unmanned aircraft for both
government and commercial applications.

LIKE FLYING ON MARS
 With Helios flying routinely at those altitudes, NASA project managers
also plan to cram it with scientific instruments to study the depletion of
the ozone layer, weather conditions and other atmospheric conditions.

"If we can develop an airplane that can fly for six months at a time, it
opens the door to a whole host applications," Del Frate said "And Helios is
just that airplane." Del Frate said Helios could prove much more effective
at studying the weather than balloons - which are forced to follow
prevailing winds - and will give them a first inkling of what flight would
be like on Mars.

"It turns out that, at 100,000 feet (30,500 metres), the aerodynamic
principles and conditions are very much the same as they would be on Mars,"
Del Frate said. "We can infer from the results of our flight test what's
necessary in the design of an aircraft that might someday fly on Mars."
Helios, which has never been tested in wind tunnels because it is too big
to fit in one, is expected to make its first test flight from the Barking
Sands Pacific Missile Range on the Hawaiian island of Kuaii on July 5.

The plane will take off from a strip of pavement next to the runway to
accommodate its width.

Two weeks later, NASA will fly Helios again, hoping to then break altitude
records by reaching 100,000 feet (30,500 metres).

If all goes well, NASA will likely pack the plane away to concentrate on
developing a fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will allow it to
stay aloft for months at a time.

Story by Dan Whitcomb 

REUTERS 
 
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sent on by David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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