A British company has been testing a giant drone that uses solar energy to move around

A British company is testing the PHASA-35, a 35-metre, 150kg drone that uses solar energy to move and can fly for over a year at an incredible height. Sponsored by the UK Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and the Defense Science and Technology Group Australia (DSTG), the successful flight tests took place at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Woomera Test Range in South Australia, supported by RAAF personnel on base with the test team.

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The drone that can reach an incredible height of 21,3 meters

The solar-powered drone has a wingspan of 35 meters, and according to the company responsible, it was designed to fly in the stratosphere, well above weather phenomena and also aircraft traffic. The PHASA-35 can reach an altitude of approximately 21,3 meters and can also fly at night with the stored energy of its solar panels during the day.

Due to its high technology, the drone can reach an incredible height and can perform operations in the air for more than a year. It weighs 150 kg and was built and developed by Bae Systems, a company dedicated to the manufacture of aerospace products.

Solar powered drone has multiple functions

Among the uses of the drone are: Military surveillance, land observation, disaster relief, border security, environmental, maritime and agricultural monitoring.

Still weighing 150 kg, the aircraft can be equipped with cameras, devices and sensors to create a communication network, including 5G internet in places where disasters have occurred, replacing satellites.

The inaugural flight of the PHASA-35 was made in 2020 and the estimate is that the solar-powered aircraft will begin to be used by governments and companies from the year 2025. More tests will be carried out this year, in the United States, to verify whether the drone can reach the height of the stratosphere.

Another model of solar-powered drone

Another great project is a drone made by the United States Naval Research Laboratory. It has a hybrid engine powered by hydrogen cells and solar energy and its tests carried out in November showed that the equipment can fly for up to 24 hours, gaining several uses in military operations. Perhaps the efficiency of the aircraft is much better than what is already known, given that the weather conditions during the tests were terrible. Temperatures dropped to below zero, winds reached a speed of 37 km/h and there was also no presence of solar energy. With the right conditions, the expectation of the laboratory's engineers is that it will fly for two consecutive days.