This week, preparing for a long flight. This plane can stay up in the air almost indefinitely. How . , in the air almost indefinitely. How . Why . In the air almost indefinitely. How . Why . In the air almost indefinitely. How . , wh . ~. , how . Sunshine. Why . Wait and see. How . Sunshine. Why . Wait and see tracking how . Sunshine. Why . Wait and see. Tracking the how . Sunshine. Why . Wait and see. Tracking the wildlife see. Tracking the wildlife beside the see. Tracking the wildlife beside the tracks, see. Tracking the wildlife beside the tracks, but. See. Tracking the wildlife beside the tracks, but pauls got distracted. I beside the tracks, but pauls got distracted. Beside the tracks, but pauls got distracted. I love a train. Understatement got distracted. I love a train. Understatement of got distracted. I love a train. Understatement of the got distracted. I love a train. L understatement of the century there understatement of the century there. Also, how to keep connected Up
Its launched by hand, its completely solar powered and in theory, it may be able to stay up here for months. I was last at zephyr s base in farnborough in the uk in 2018, when it had just stayed aloft for very nearly 26 days. Since then, its done 64. So, this is how it works. During the day, the sun hits the solar panels, which charge the batteries and power the propellers, and the plane climbs to 75,000 feet. When the sun goes down, the batteries completely take over. The propellers do slow down and the plane does lose altitude. The trick, though, is to make sure youre still above 60,000 feet by the time the sun comes up the next morning and the process can start again. So, will the entire wing be covered with solar cells, every single square centimetre, as much as you can in solar . Actually, the solar array that we use now typically is so efficient that we dont tend to need to do complete coverage. Really . Yeah, we can actually recharge the batteries most normal days by lunchtime.