
August 18th, 2003, 05:55 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 4,245
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Re: OT: Trans-Atlantic Model Airplane
Quote:
yes, they do. including a big drone that runs of solar power that could cross an ocean. saw a documentary on nova.
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I don't know if it's the same thing, but I saw an article about these giant unmanned planes that were designed to stay aloft at very high altitudes on an indefinite basis! They were really flimsy and lightweight looking, with a huge wingspan and loads of really big propellors. They props were driven by solar power from panels covering the wings.
They were conceived as a cheap alternative to orbital satellites for things like weather monitoring, recon, and all those other things they use satellites for. Cool idea.
EDIT: As for controlling the transatlantic effort, you could
(a) fly a normal aircraft alongside it and use a normal controller from there.
(b) program it to follow a signal from a transmitter attached to a trained bird or something 
[ August 18, 2003, 16:59: Message edited by: dogscoff ]
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