This is truly a technological splendor as it not only performs at a scale that has been long considered almost impossible but it does so in the cleanest possible fashion. The new aeronautical dream machine is something that stays in flight in the upper stratosphere for a good 5 years without ever taking a break and runs on nothing but the power of the sun. The all new ‘Vulture’ program is designed to create the Aurora Odysseus UAV that can stay in flight using solar energy.
The objective of the Vulture program is to develop an aircraft capable of remaining on-station uninterrupted for over five years to perform intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and communication missions over an area of interest. The technology challenges include development of energy management and reliability technologies capable of allowing the aircraft to operate continuously for such extended durations. Vulture, in effect, will be a persistent pseudo-satellite capability, in an aircraft package.
Aurora’s design is called “Odysseus”. The concept uses solar energy to power the aircraft during daylight, and stored solar energy to power the aircraft at night. The aircraft is designed to fly in the stratosphere throughout its mission. This is probably the cleanest and most efficient surveillance vehicle in human history. It is amazing that the vehicle can feed of solar energy and stay in orbit for such a long time. NASA had previously commissioned such projects, but this is taking it several notches above anything that has been done in the past.
