Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 13th Title: "Climb" the China "Rainbow" in the 20,000-meter sky — — China’s first near-space solar unmanned aerial vehicle was successfully tested.
Xinhua News Agency reporters Li Song and Bai Guolong
The wingspan is 45 meters, the surface is covered with solar panels, and the shape is "science fiction"; The next flight can last for months or even years, and it has the characteristics of "quasi-satellite"; It can be used as an "air mobile WIFI" base station, real-time monitoring and positioning at high altitude, and has a broad application prospect … … Recently, China’s Rainbow Solar UAV successfully completed the high-altitude flight test of more than 20,000 meters, which made China the third country to master the technology of solar UAV in near space after the United States and Britain.
Solar unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with completely independent intellectual property rights is expected to become another classic of China’s "intellectual creation".
Ultra-high altitude, long endurance and easy support — — China "Rainbow" climbed high into the sky.
Recently, in an airport in northwest China, the weather was fine, and the rainbow solar drone with a wingspan of 45 meters slowly slipped out along the runway and flew off the runway smoothly, gradually climbing to the adjacent space of 20,000 meters. During the flight of more than 15 hours, the UAV’s flight state was stable and its attitude was controllable, and it flew in an orderly manner according to the designed track, and finally achieved a smooth landing, and the test flight was a complete success.
The load capacity exceeds that of foreign UAVs of the same type, the key technologies are localized, and it has a wide application prospect in the military and civilian fields … … As the latest achievement of China’s "intelligent creation", Rainbow Solar UAV has reached the advanced level in the world with its three magic weapons of super high altitude, long endurance and easy support.
20— from the ground; The airspace of 100 kilometers is called the adjacent space. For the traditional fuel-consuming aircraft, too thin air makes the engine power drop significantly and loses its "place of use". However, this is a space where drones covered with solar panels show their advantages. "Relying on sunlight to provide the whole machine with energy and electric propeller propulsion, it is expected to fly for several months or even longer in the future, so that solar drones can show their talents at high altitude and long voyage." Li Guangjia, head of the Rainbow Solar UAV Project, introduced.
Talking about the technical characteristics of the Rainbow Solar UAV, Shi Wen, the chief engineer of the Rainbow Series UAV, is also gushing, like a few treasures. "Another technical advantage of the Rainbow Solar UAV lies in its high operating cost-effectiveness ratio. Its airborne system is simple, and there is no need for refueling and other support equipment. Due to the long flight time, there is no need to frequently change rotations to complete persistent tasks. "
Solar drones use solar energy as energy and store excess energy in batteries during the day. At night, fly continuously through the battery. "Compared with aircraft powered by chemical fuels, solar-powered aircraft does not pollute the atmosphere, and it is a truly green aircraft and an important direction for the development of drones in the future." Shi Wen said.
China, the solar flight "club", finally occupies a place.
In 1917, the British successfully developed the world’s first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which opened the prelude to the development and innovation of UAV in the world. Today, solar-powered aircraft has become the forefront of the development of aviation science in the world, and it is an important field of technology and industry competition in all countries of the world. The development is in the ascendant, the results are one after another, and the competition is fierce.
The development of solar aircraft in the United States started earlier. In 1980, the solar aircraft project was included in the national plan, and solar aircraft such as Pathfinder and Sun God were successively developed. As a leading country in the development of solar-powered aircraft, in 2007, the British Breeze UAV flew in the air for 54 hours with a flying height of over 15,000 meters.
Without adding any fuel and emitting any pollutants, the Swiss "Sunshine Power 2" solar plane, which achieved the feat of flying around the world, has attracted much attention. "Sunshine Power 2" is mainly made of carbon fiber and weighs only 2,300 kilograms, which is equivalent to a small car. During the round-the-world flight in 2015-2016, it reached a maximum of 118 hours of uninterrupted flight, which is one of the important achievements in the development of solar aircraft in the world.
As an aircraft developed all over the world, the reason why countries are willing to invest huge sums of money and human resources is that as a cutting-edge technology product, its technology and integrated industry’s driving ability are quite strong, besides its broad application prospects.
"The solar drone project involves many technical fields such as aerodynamics, structure and energy storage battery. At present, its key technology is still a difficult problem in the development of the world aviation industry, and there are many technical gaps." Li Guangjia told reporters that in the field of solar-powered aircraft development, China started late, but it is unique. The aircraft represented by Rainbow Solar UAV entered the adjacent space, demonstrating China’s ambition to occupy a place in this field.
Rainbow has a high starting point and stood at the forefront of aviation as soon as it was born.
"Rainbow starts high, one ‘ Born ’ I stood at the forefront of aviation. " Through the innovative product Rainbow Solar UAV, the technical team of China has solved key technical problems such as overall, aerodynamics, flight control and efficient application of energy and power.
Jia Yongqing, deputy chief engineer of Rainbow UAV Technology Co., Ltd., a research institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which is the research unit of Rainbow Solar UAV, said that the development of aviation technology should not be "born behind". Although the Rainbow Solar UAV started from "a blank sheet of paper", it was in line with the most advanced level in the world from the beginning.
Any scientific research progress is not smooth sailing. In 2013-2014, the development of Rainbow Solar UAV also encountered great challenges: the aircraft often "jumped up and down, swayed left and right" when flying in low altitude and strong turbulence. In order to solve this problem, the research team tackled the problem hard. In theory and engineering, it took more than a year to solve the problem of precise control of the UAV under complex meteorological conditions, which not only made the aircraft fly, but also flew steadily and high.
"At the same time, relevant researchers have gradually established and improved the design and test scheme of solar-powered aircraft by implementing the concept research of UAV platform and the development of small-scale verification machine, key technology research and scheme demonstration, and low-altitude and high-altitude flight tests of large-scale technical verification machine with a wingspan of more than 40 meters." Jia Yongqing said.
"Relying on the Rainbow solar drone and other projects, and supporting the development of high-strength lightweight graphene new materials, new solar cells, new energy storage methods and other technologies and products will help to further promote the development of China’s aviation industry." Shi Wen said that in the future, China’s solar drones will also develop in the direction of ultra-high altitude, ultra-long endurance, large-scale and practicality, and the prospects are worth looking forward to.
Data Relay, Aerial Surveillance, Emergency Communication … … Rainbow has a bright future.
The ultimate goal of scientific and technological progress is to serve mankind. Only by finding the right application market can we have the foundation and potential for sustainable development. Innovative products like Rainbow Solar UAV "aim" at the application needs of economic and social development and can provide multifunctional technical services and products.
According to the development plan, Rainbow Solar UAV will have the characteristics of "quasi-satellite" in the future. As an aerial platform, it will provide lasting data relay and 4G/5G communication, partially replace the communication satellite function, and realize uninterrupted situational awareness and relay communication service with full coverage of the region.
For example, a great application prospect of Rainbow Solar UAV is to build an "airborne mobile WIFI" base station, which can provide more convenient, cheap and responsive mobile communication and Internet access services for remote areas or islands, avoid the huge construction, use and maintenance costs of traditional optical fiber or microwave transmission, and lower the information threshold.
"From the perspective of extensive economic and social development, the field of solar drone service can also be extended to forest resources survey, agricultural survey, monitoring and forecasting of flood control, real-time assessment and rescue of major geological disasters." Shi Wen said that in the event of an earthquake, flood or forest fire, it can also replace the interrupted communication and maintain contact between the affected areas and the outside world.