New record ??
08-26-2008 | 06:08 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 593
Likes: 0
From: B767A[ret.]
New record ??
08-26-2008 | 10:14 AM
#2
Prime Minister/Moderator
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 45,187
Likes: 807
From: Engines Turn or People Swim
The DoD (DARPA I think) is working on a two-phase test aircraft which will have a one, and then five year endurance (yes, years). It will have articulating wings like a seagull to allow the solar panels a more direct incidence to the sun at certain times of day, season, and latitude.
The benefit of these things will be low cost surviellance and communication relays in a fixed position, at a tiny fraction of the cost of a satellite. Satellites can only remain in an apparently fixed position over the equator, and only at a high altitude and low angle above the horizon in many latitudes.
The benefit of these things will be low cost surviellance and communication relays in a fixed position, at a tiny fraction of the cost of a satellite. Satellites can only remain in an apparently fixed position over the equator, and only at a high altitude and low angle above the horizon in many latitudes.
