Odysseus Solar Concept Plane Flies for 5 Years
By Jared Newman
Airplanes aren’t particularly friendly to the environment, nor can they stay in the air for very long, but Aurora Flight Sciences is looking to solve both dilemmas with the Odysseus, a solar-powered concept plane. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to fly on it. This is the first entry in DARPA’s scarily-named Vulture competition, which seeks an airplane that can keep surveillance on a target for five years straight. The Odysseus measures 492 feet wide and reportedly hits the half-decade mark at 70,000 feet in the air, cruising at 140 miles per hour. Each 164-foot-long wing takes off independently, and then they all dock mid-air. During the day, their form shifts to trap optimal sunlight. So if a few years from now you think you’re being watched, just look for the big, flopping object in the sky. [Popular Science via Inhabitat]
