FAI Awards Three World Records to Zephyr UAV

January 4, 2011 — One world record wasn’t enough. Zephyr, QinetiQ’s solar-powered, high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle, has officially been awarded three world records by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, including one for the longest airplane flight ever — two weeks. The aircraft also has records for achieving the highest altitude of any surveillance craft in its class, and setting the absolute duration record of 14 days and 21 minutes, according to GizMag.com. The records were achieved during the Zephyr’s first flight in July 2010, which lasted 14-days, 21-minutes, reaching an altitude of 70,000 feet. QinetiQ says that development continues toward a goal of having the aircraft stay airborne for months at a time, making the Zephyr even more useful for aerial surveillance, communication, lightweight transport and research scenarios, GizMag.com reported. According to the company, Zephyr is an ultra-lightweight carbon-fiber aircraft. It flies on solar power generated by amorphous silicon arrays covering the aircraft’s wings, no thicker than sheets of paper. It is powered day and night by rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries that are recharged during the day using solar power. “Zephyr can fly 13 miles above the ground, allowing the UAV to watch over an area 600 miles in diameter while sending continuous, high-resolution live images back to Earth. The company says this is a big advantage over the intermittent, distant and expensive “snapshot per orbit” from satellites flying 100 miles above the earth. This aircraft can help track pirates off the Horn of Africa, alert the authorities about where and how fast forest fires are spreading, and ensure that soldiers’ communications remain unaffected when fighting in mountainous or hilly terrain, said Chris Kellher, QinetiZ’s chief designer. The company says that Zephyr also offers significant cost savings at just one-tenth of other unmanned aerial vehicles, and one-hundredth of the cost of a satellite.

The FAI has ratified the three world records claims made by QinetiQ in July 2010 after its Zephyr UAV stayed airborne for over 14 days. The Zephyr soars in the sky on its maiden flight in July 2010. See it fly Click here to see the Zephyr take off, fly and land.

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