(Apology the last version does not have sound.)
On September 3rd, China made another breakthrough in aviation technology. A large size, long range solar plane made first flight. Some commentators call it a plane never needs to land. That is not true but it can definitely stay in flight for days easily.
The solar plane is called Qiming 50, it is a large solar-powered drone developed by the Chinese First Aircraft Design and Research Institute. The plane successfully completed its first flight in southern china. The plane is a high-altitude low-speed drone with high wing aspect ratio, and it is the first fully electric large unmanned platform with solar energy as the only power energy in China. There are only two to three countries have developed a pure solar powered plane at this scale.
The first flight took 26 minutes, all systems operated as expected.
Obviously this is an efficient, clean, environmental friendly aircraft, but more importantly it can stay in the air for days, if not weeks. That makes it an ideal platform for high-altitude reconnaissance, wildfire monitoring, geographic mapping, communication relay and other tasks.
Overall, this solar plane marks a milestone of the Chinese development of key technologies in new energy, composite materials and flight control, and it will improve the Chinese industry’s ability to perform missions at high altitude.
Chinese Military News: [ Ссылка ]
China Air Force: [ Ссылка ]
Chinese space exploration: [ Ссылка ]
Photo and video: Wiki common, Yangshipin site, Yangshijunshi weibo, PLADaily weibo
