Page 7 - Aerotech News and Review, April 2, 2021

SOLAR, from 6
“We expanded the aircraft’s flight range for verification and valida- For example, AeroVironment is working on a major effort with
tion of our guidance, navigation and control systems, as well as our NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, on
aerodynamics and aeroelastic stability. It really gave us confidence regulations and standards development for this class of high flying
that we had an airplane that would get to the stratosphere success- aircraft.
fully and safely. We learned a lot during our time at NASA Arm- “A lot of concepts from manned aviation, or even typical un-
strong and it prepared us well to go to high altitude.” manned aerial vehicles, do not carry over to HAPS in a traditional
way, such as safety, risk, reliability, maintenance checks and pilot
What’s next in command,” De Baets said. “We will have to look at a new way of
The AeroVironment team continues to expand the duration that doing collaborative traffic management and sense-and-avoid, specif-
Sunglider can fly and fine tune the aircraft to prepare for offering ic standards for electric drive train, and risk of loss per flight hour.”
commercial services. Concepts for how to pilot a future group of these vehicles that
“Technology maturity needs to continue and much of that hap- act like a satellite in providing a telecommunications network in
pens through flight test,” Plumb said. “You learn a lot every time remote places is also ongoing. In that situation, a single pilot could
you fly.” fly multiple aircraft together, De Baets explained. Those ideas will
be advanced with partners such as the Federal Aviation Adminis-
Sunglider has benefited from improvements in materials, elec- tration and regulatory agencies worldwide to grow and harmonize NASA photograph by Carla Thomas
tronics, and solar-electric propulsion technologies. However, there operations.
are still some items that will have to happen before Sunglider will Before the Sunglider demonstrated its capabilities in the
stratosphere during a mission from Spaceport America in New
be able to accomplish its intended missions. Experience counts Mexico, the team flew flights from NASA’s Armstrong Flight
Sunglider takes advantage of all the lessons AeroVironment’s Research Center in Edwards, Calif.
team has learned from its solar powered aircraft.
“We have a core team that designed and flew Pathfinder and He- stration. AeroVironment’s team learned from those lessons, which
lios,” De Baets said. “We continued to work on high altitude, long have led to successful aircraft designs such as the Sunglider.
endurance aircraft, and we are able to leverage decades of expertise John Del Frate, who was an ERAST program manager and proj-
— from recent grads to experienced professionals. It’s something ect manager for several of the aircraft, said he has watched the
that really sets AeroVironment apart from others: people have re- technology evolution since the program ended in 2003.
ally long careers here. It really changes the dynamic for the better.” “I’m personally very excited to see this team continue work
Lessons learned from the past design decisions and aircraft op- started back during the ERAST days,” he said. “The vision we all
erations allow the team to know why decisions were made and fine had then was exactly what Sunglider is all about. Our hope was that
tune the approach to challenges. new battery, solar cell and composites technologies would allow the
“It’s hard to point to any area of the Sunglider and not see the
influence of AeroVironment’s heritage,” De Baets said. “Even the concept to break through the barriers faced by Helios.”
telecommunication payload mission for the Sunglider stratospheric De Baets and Plumb say Sunglider’s future is sunny, which is a
flight had origins in a mission we flew with the Helios Prototype.” great forecast for a solar powered vehicle.
NASA photograph by Nick Galente That’s not to say everything always goes as planned. The Helios “What is fascinating is time and tech have caught up with ability
Ground crewmen maneuver AeroVironment’s solar-powered Prototype was lost on its last mission on June 26, 2003. A review to explore the stratosphere, De Baets said. “Very few vehicles fly in
Helios Prototype flying wing on its ground support dolly during board concluded events unfolded from an inability to predict, us- the stratosphere with significant payload capability and we will have
functional checkouts prior to its first flights under solar power from ing available analysis methods, the aircraft’s increased sensitivity the ability to maximize the opportunities offered by the airspace.
the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua’i, Hawaii.
to atmospheric disturbances such as turbulence, following aircraft The goal: affordable persistence. We are helping to develop the
configuration changes required for the long-duration flight demon- foundation for these operations.”

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THIS TOGETHER.

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