The article mentions that this Skydweller UAS completed a 73 hour flight.
Back in 2022 there was a solar powered Airbus Zephyr drone that was tested over the Southwestern US with a flight time of 64 DAYS. I wonder how this new drone is different and how a 73 hour flight is significant in comparison.
Here is an article about the Zephyr Drone and its crash that ended its nearly record-tying flight:
Here is a flight replay from adsbexchange showing one day's worth of its flight path where it traced out the Liberty Bell(?) and the shape of the lower 48 at nearly 70,000ft. (Scrolling through its other dates show more playful flight paths)
The Skydweller is capable of carrying an ISR (Intelligence/Surveillance/Reconnaissance) equipment load, which is several times heavier than the Zephyr -- not to take away from the Zephyr's accomplishments ("on the shoulders of giants", etc).
The article mentions "wide-area surveillance"[1], which translates to "a lot of cameras" (FLIR, visible light, etc).
You also need more solar and more batteries to power all that ISR.
>You also need more solar and more batteries to power all that ISR.
I wonder if it would be feasible to use smaller sensors and on a smaller platform - then combine that data. Similar in concept to Gorgon stare where the idea was to combine data from multiple UAVs to create a larger image to provide a greater simultaneous coverage area.
It looks like that Zephyr drone only weighed about 160lbs and didn't carry any payload. I believe these new Skydweller drones can carry an 800lb payload. Maybe that is the significant difference?
This was envisioned by the movie Interstellar where the opening scene shows them chasing an old autonomous Indian Air Force drone that had been flying for years, ostensibly after that agency ceased to exist. I'm sure it's been in other media as well but that's what comes to mind here.
Anyway, it should be interesting to see where this goes in the future.
I am still skeptical it would work out for regular aircraft due to all the moving mechanical parts, not o mention battery charge cycles for night flying.
But I could definitely see it working for autonomous underwater drones that glide in the water, going up and down by changing their density. Few simple mechanical parts & some project already demonstrated very long endurance.
“ The Centennial Light is an incandescent light bulb recognized as the oldest known operating light bulb. It was first illuminated in 1901, and has only been turned off a few brief times since.”
I’m probably hugely oversimplifying here but let’s say you attach the electric motor directly to the prop, perhaps with some minor gearing, then what’s left in terms of moving parts? Some rudders, right?
Very cool. I've been wondering on the upper limit on this for a while: Indefinite autonomous flight. Upper atmosphere or lower. I think I was inspired by SevenEves' gliders, but in my head, they would be small (er than depicted in the novel, and this article)
I think altitude is what would make these valuable. If you can approach LEO and away from standard military tech, they could easily prove refreshable tech platforms.
Not sure about this one but previous multi day attempt were not tracking the sun. They go really high during day and then use battery and altitude to make it through night
You can use 'circumvent' here, but the meaning is a little odd. That's more like heading from Mars to the Sun and finding a way around the Earth to continue to your destination. Usually, people use 'circumnavigate' instead, which is used to describe vehicles (boats, planes, bicycles, etc.) making their way all the way around Earth.
One possible payload would be a fast deploy cellular base station that can loiter over disaster areas to provide connectivity. Backhaul would be via satellite like Starlink or if you have multiple aircraft you can route between them to a place with working connectivity. They could also broadcast FM emergency update info.
Presumably they could also be rented for big commercial outdoor events, too. On a grander scale, maybe these might make a big network like the old Project Loon more feasible, though presumably the things would have to be able to fly high enough to escape most of the weather (and vandals and conspiracy theorists armed with rifles).
Readit News
Back in 2022 there was a solar powered Airbus Zephyr drone that was tested over the Southwestern US with a flight time of 64 DAYS. I wonder how this new drone is different and how a 73 hour flight is significant in comparison.
Here is an article about the Zephyr Drone and its crash that ended its nearly record-tying flight:
https://simpleflying.com/airbus-zephyr-flight-ends/
Here is a flight replay from adsbexchange showing one day's worth of its flight path where it traced out the Liberty Bell(?) and the shape of the lower 48 at nearly 70,000ft. (Scrolling through its other dates show more playful flight paths)
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ae1313&lat=33.419&lon=-...
The article mentions "wide-area surveillance"[1], which translates to "a lot of cameras" (FLIR, visible light, etc).
You also need more solar and more batteries to power all that ISR.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-area_motion_imagery (eg. GORGON STARE)
I wonder if it would be feasible to use smaller sensors and on a smaller platform - then combine that data. Similar in concept to Gorgon stare where the idea was to combine data from multiple UAVs to create a larger image to provide a greater simultaneous coverage area.
https://longreads.com/2019/06/21/nothing-kept-me-up-at-night...
Anyway, it should be interesting to see where this goes in the future.
But I could definitely see it working for autonomous underwater drones that glide in the water, going up and down by changing their density. Few simple mechanical parts & some project already demonstrated very long endurance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light
“ The Centennial Light is an incandescent light bulb recognized as the oldest known operating light bulb. It was first illuminated in 1901, and has only been turned off a few brief times since.”
https://alert5.com/2025/07/30/converted-solar-impulse-2-airc...