Record breaking solar powered aircraft stays aloft for 26 days straight
The aviation industry is one of the world's biggest polluters so companies around the world are trying to find new ways to power aircraft.
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Griffin, M. (2018) 'Record breaking solar powered aircraft stays aloft for 26 days straight', 311 Institute, 22 November. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/record-breaking-solar-powered-aircraft-stays-aloft-for-26-days-straight/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Recently I talked about SolarStratos, a company that’s looking to produce “the world’s first commercial solar aircraft,” and a couple of weeks ago on the other side of the world a solar powered aircraft from the European aerospace giant Airbus completed a maiden flight lasting 25 days, 23 hours, and 57 minutes.
The new Zephyr S HAPS (High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite) took off from Arizona and went on to complete "the longest duration flight ever made," Airbus Defence and Space said in an announcement Wednesday who also submitted an application to confirm the flight as a new world record.
Airbus promo reel (no sound and yes, it gets boring after 40 seconds)
The unmanned aircraft, a 75 kilogram Zephyr, offers what Airbus describes as "local satellite-like services" and runs exclusively on solar power. It operates in the stratosphere at an average altitude of 70,000 feet and has a wingspan of 25 meters.
"This very successful maiden flight represents a new significant milestone in the Zephyr program, adding a new stratospheric flight endurance record which we hope will be formalized very shortly," Jana Rosenmann, head of unmanned aerial systems at Airbus, said in a statement.
"We will in the coming days check all engineering data and outputs and start the preparation of additional flights planned for the second half of this year from our new operating site at the Wyndham airfield in Western Australia," Rosenmann added.
Solar powered aircraft offer an intriguing glimpse of what the future of aviation could eventually look like, especially as other industry giants, including Boeing and Rolls Royce begin to eye the start of electric flight, in part thanks to new battery advancements, in 2030.
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The aviation industry is one of the world's biggest polluters so companies around the world are trying to find new ways to power aircraft.
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Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
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Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 22 November 2018. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2018). Record breaking solar powered aircraft stays aloft for 26 days straight. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/record-breaking-solar-powered-aircraft-stays-aloft-for-26-days-straight/
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