IEEE Spectrum January, 2014 - 56

top 10 tech

look, Ma, no pilot

Solara
TakeS off

titan aerospace's high-flying drones
could deliver satellite services
without leaving the atmosphere

If you take the maIn road
east out of Moriarty,
N.M., turn south at a sign
advertising glider rides, and
then swing east again past
the sailplanes ornamenting
a two-runway airport, you
will see hangar No. 76, the
headquarters of Titan
Aerospace. In this cavernous

office-cum-workshop,
engineers are developing
the Solara-a line of solarpowered robotic airplanes
capable of staying aloft for
years at a time.
The first of these planes, the
Solara 50, will be equipped
with about 3000 photovoltaic
cells covering a 50-meter

56

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north american

SPectrUm.ieee.orG

wingspan-as long as an
Olympic swimming pool.
The aircraft is meant to carry
a small payload to altitudes
around 20 kilometers into
the stratosphere, where the
air is idyllically calm.
The Solaras and their
ilk are sometimes called
atmospheric satellites,

because they could do
many jobs that satellites
do, including delivering
broadband service and
taking pictures from on
high. But unlike stationary
orbiters, these planes could
be retrieved, upgraded, and
reused. And because they
could be bought and operated
for a fraction of a satellite's
cost, they could take on other
missions, such as patrolling
national borders, monitoring
the ozone layer, and
expanding cellular coverage.
The Solara 50 could be the
first commercial product to
provide these services.
"Trying to find a customer
to sell this airplane to isn't
going to be a problem for us,"
says Vern Raburn, Titan's
CEO. He expects engineers
will test-fly the first fullscale models later this year.
Provided there are no major
hang-ups, he says, the plane
should go on sale in 2015.
Titan isn't the first company
with such ambitions. In 1974,
engineers at AstroFlight, a
model airplane manufacturer
in Irvine, Calif., guided the
first robotic solar plane
over a dry lake bed. In the
1980s, AeroVironment, now
in Monrovia, Calif., claimed
the first piloted solar flight
and the first solar-powered
crossing of the English
Channel. With funding from
NASA, the company pushed
solar drones to greater and
greater heights, ultimately
achieving a 40-minute tour
above 29 kilometers in 2001.
And in 2010, the British
defense firm QinetiQ proved
illustration by

Eddie Guy



http://SPectrUm.ieee.orG

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum January, 2014

IEEE Spectrum January, 2014 - Cover1
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IEEE Spectrum January, 2014 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum January, 2014 - Cover4
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