A new draft of the research unit of the U.S. Department of Defense, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is about to kick off a new aircraft capable of flying for five years in a row, never land and never be replenished in flight. Vulture is the name that will be given a long airplane ride, you can constantly monitor and re-establish radio communications and video over an area affected by an environmental disaster, or check out without being seen training camps for terrorists. In other words, his versatility will lead them to be used in both military and civilian. Three aviation companies, Aurora Flight Systems, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, have received funding from DARPA to develop in competition with each other, within five years, a plane capable of carrying about 500 kilograms of material at an altitude of between 20,000 and 30,000 ft, can fly for 5 consecutive years. Until now the record for flying an aircraft without crew is for the QinetiQ's Zephyr Aircraft, which flew for 54 hours consecutively. The Aurora, in proposing to give me his plan, put forward plans to build three aircraft, which will leave the airport alone and, once airborne, will join to create a giant airplane with a wingspan of about 160 meters . "Theoretically you could assemble those planes you want, but make matches of 3 it will be a great success," the chief engineer Robert herringbone Parks. To get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe scale, the Airbus A380, the largest commercial aircraft built to date, has a wingspan that is half of that proposed by Aurora for Vulture, and it's airport terminal to be constructed details. The project proposed by Aurora also provides the opportunity to take three planes to a structure in the shape of "Z", which would allow the solar panels that will power the aircraft to position themselves in the best way to capture the sunlight in the area seconds on which the aircraft will be sent to work. This will have considerable importance especially when the vehicle passes through the areas near the poles in winter, that is when the days are very short. According a quanto ha detto Parks, l'aereo sarà ad emissione zero, in quanto verrà fatto funzionare solo attraverso motori elettrici la cui energia verrà prodotta attraverso pannelli fotovoltaici. Più riservate Boeing e Lockeed Martin. La prima ha fatto sapere che il suo progetto è molto simile a quello di Aurora, ma che verrà costruito un aereo con una sola grande ala. Dopo 5 anni, gli aerei non saranno da buttare, ma dovranno essere sottoposti ad una pesante revisione che permetterà loro di ritornare in volo dopo diversi mesi di sosta. Questi aerei potranno realizzare ciò che oggi compiono alcuni satelliti per l'osservazione terrestre, ma a differenza di questi ultimi, gli aerei, in caso di guasto, potranno essere fatti atterrare, may be repaired and returned to their place. Also when it enters into a large number of activities such aircraft, the costs will be significantly lower than those of satellites.
Source: www.repubblica.it
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