Airbus Zephyr Solar High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite Maiden Flight

Airbus Zephyr Solar High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (S HAPS) departed for its maiden flight from Arizona, USA, on 11 July 2018, and touched down after 25 days, 23 hours, and 57 minutes. An application has been made to establish this as a new world record for flight endurance of an aircraft without refueling. Zephyr is a High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) UAS/UAV which runs on solar power. According to Airbus, the unmanned aircraft provides local satellite-like services, “it endures like a satellite, focuses like an aircraft and is cheaper than either of them”.

Credit: Airbus Defence and Space

#Airbus #Zephyr

[Kneedragon]

Great idea. You can provide a service that stands between satellite communication, and optic fibre on the ground. It costs ten times less than a satellite, but it doesn't require extensive infrastructure on the ground.
It would be great in a disaster area, as others say, but it gives you high speed low latency internet at Broken Hill, or Longreach, or Mt Isa, or any other regional centre in the Australian outback. I think of that first because I'm an Australian, but the general idea works for any remote or semi remote area, anywhere on Earth, where you have a thousand people or more, and you have no way to deliver real broadband to them, at least not at any remotely realistic cost. It provides the equivalent of satellite broadband, but without the massive latency.
Satellite is great, if you want to watch a movie. But it sucks if you want to play a game, or take part in a fast paced discussion, or anything where speed and speed of response matters.

[glenneroo]

Birds must think we're crazy, launching all sorts of fake birds into the sky.

[Sir_Uncle_Ned]

This could be great for disaster areas to provide quick widespread communication. Just lasily hovering in the stratosphere

[Derpster]

What is the humanitarian payload? Food bombs?