Solar Plane

[Voiceofreason0220]

why is everything solar also paper thin and incapable of carrying passengers?

[austinsiebert]

@Voiceofreason0220 inefficiant

[InfinityNERDS]

And Then The Clouds Roll In For The Fun To Start

[zoidberg3009]

I'd Rather choose fossil fuels. It would be a long boring flight in this.....

[ombra306]

Skeptics!

[hellowpo333]

but will it blend??

[Scoshed]

What if no sun? Float on water? xD

[rock3tcat]

@Scoshed

xD Dx

[KingSlimjeezy]

@Scoshed hydrogen fuel cell

[OrganicKing]

gay

[jordtizzle]

random eclipse appears

[FoodOnCrack]

well done. these ecological scientist have lost there ability to reasonable their ideas

[wxyzxdll]

@FoodOnCrack just like people cant use the English language properly anymore....

[sixthsnipe]

what a retarded looking plane XD

[FlightLineProduction]

Wing Flex Much?

[MrDinarius]

what happens if its night?

[PeterSievers]

Not true, @Luke. It has got Lithium-Batteries onboard, that can power the plane by night for a few hours. They are needed too when you get into a cloud.

[MrNrepetto]

what happens if it is night... in flight

[derups]

Not IFR qualified I think

[TheExecutiveBanana]

this thing must be really fast. NOPE! Chuck Testa.

[TRUPAC12]

imagine nightflights

[LukeAndJema]

@TRUPAC12 it wont fly at night

[Doctorscientist1998]

Chuck Norris took this to travel.

[kelipop]

they can fly above the clould sherlock

[ELFHUNTER50]

@kelipop they cant fly above the clouds if they cant even take off due to the clouds, why bring sherlock into this what has he ever done to you? >=(

[kronos1546]

BUT, WILL IT BLEND?

[nabeel374]

Oddee <3

[TheOtowngman]

What happens when the cloulds come

[bonds911]

fuck this is not a plane is a toy,,, real solar plane check search,, solar impulse plane....

[GivinStatic]

Fake!

Pigeons are placed where the propellors should be!

[BadAndUgly]

Fill the wings with helium pockets and it will be even lighter :)

[MrTriena]

its like a ramb 0:33 :D

[MrTriena]

its like a ramb! for cars omg :D

[jammapcb]

ahhh shit its nighttime!

[Plur307]

@jammapcb it can fly through the night on batteries. It stayed up in the air for many days. That was the whole point. Theoretically it can fly forever.

[jammapcb]

@Plur307 ahhh thought so... it was a vain attempt at humour ... ;0)

[uhgfdsa123]

Maybe it has batteries.

[chicksfollowme]

Then came a cloud

[mysic8]

STEP 3: HOW THE FUCK DO WE GET PEOPLE ON IT

[elijahizere]

@mysic8 its not for transportation. its just an experiment testing if they can make a plane that doesent effect the enviroment and can fly for as long as possible.

[Jomasterhns]

dear santa...

[MegaForceGolf]

dear santa...

[SateHap]

so...what shall happen when the sun is gone?

[smacebr]

@SateHap it has batteries :-)

[Carlzoonee]

Cloud! Mayday mayday

[IkTheNew]

@Carlzoonee It has a large value of batteries, how should it otherwise stay up in night? It has flown for (I believe) about 100 days, nonstop...

[MrMackan24]

@Carlzoonee it wont let you down!

[alienware4ever]

@Carlzoonee Made my day :)

[FiEctro]

Why does not flap its wings?

[PreZeRKa]

Will it blend

[Azalamak]

what will happen when the sun disapear ?

[5T34LTHcamoT4NK]

@Azalamak it will start running on the battery of course, letting you the time to land

[SirSeal]

@Azalamak That will be in a couple billion years. At that point, homo sapiens will no longer exist because they will either (1) be extinct or (2) evolved into a different species. Which is why humanity needs to eventually leave Earth.

[Dark27inferno]

It looks unstable

[hillsnic123]

looks fun to try and land with remote controls on a breezy day...

[SittingMooseShaman]

...AnAl Gore learned ABOUT some environmental aspects while in college studying business law... He used this info to hatch a carefully laid-out racket which allowed him to eventually corner the 'green' investment market as an investment broker-which he is today with his own pig-fully rich firm. The "Man Made Global Warming" PITCH- He used as his main BUSINESS vehicle! Earth warming phenomenon is actually a naturally-occurring cycle... Yes, pollution must be curtailed- so must LYING POLITICIANS..

[abhirockstar07]

you can definatly not fly on a cloudy day...

[swedensy]

Batteries must be so heavy, not much place for peaople is left in the plane.

[meandmyevo]

goes what, 20 MPH? carries no cargo at all, requires perfect conditions to operate, costs the same as a private jet, and can go a few hundred miles in a day before the sun goes down... yup, that's as green as it gets!

[cmilford1969]

@meandmyevo I like your response. All of this 'green' stuff is a bunch of bullshit. It's a thinly veiled anti-civilization movement.

[pthompson2010]

@cmilford1969 Thats the problem with assholes like Al Gore. They lie about global warming, we find out about it, then people are turned off to what otherwise would be good ideas. Even if global warming is bullshit (which I think it is) pollution is still bad, and energy efficiency is still good. I hate promoting "green" things because I don't want people to think im a communist or a hippie. But I love the idea of green tech and energy efficiency.

[dhakagod]

@pthompson2010 yes, you are right. Ass holes like Al Gore ruined it. Now when someone talks about energy efficiency or green technology or pollution, it sounds like its another scam !!

[skimowhite586]

@meandmyevo the uk has beat this they have gone up for 54 hours straight on solar rechargeable power and at 60,000 feet this has the military licking their lips or so the article says

[meandmyevo]

@skimowhite586 No, you see, the military cares very little for useless pieces of over-priced equipment. There is very VERY little need to keep an airplane airborne for 54 hours, and if for some reason they DO need the capability, they simply refuel mid-flight. That way they have MUCH better and more useful equipment for far less money.

[Ichristian96]

I don't think this would go very well, with overnight flights and such.

[vqdset]

Beautiful, i want to buy one, how much does it cost?

[applesweeter]

Dear All,

I have some questions about psychology:

(1) Why do we love flying?

(2) Why do we want to build solar powered aeroplanes?

(3) What idea and social principle does this solar powered aeroplane promote and campagin?

(4) How will we feel if we can see the shining sun in our entire journey of flying?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE for your ideas and barinstorm!!! :)

[murilovsilva]

@applesweeter (5) How the heck are we going to fly at night and at overcast days?

By the way: (1) - for me, we fly because it's friggin awesome and bitchin', f*ck yeah - but not with a toy plane that is powered by sunshine and propelled by toy train motors.

[ThisGuyOnLive]

@murilovsilva Batteries. And if it can fly, it can fly above clouds.

[Raskolnikovtzs]

Within a decade or two, when cheap oil say goodbye guys, will be in this wonderful flying machine, in which we will travel to visit our relatives in Australia. Do not forget to notify with a couple of years in advance.

[Zaskhar]

how do they land it?

[speedomike747]

@Zaskhar by staying in the Air for ever... how dumb are you?

[Fliuck]

@speedomike747 Perhaps you failed to notice the wheels on the aircraft? It seems a strange addition to a aircraft that "is not suppose to land".

[MrLongwei]

@Fliuck it mus go up aswel sir ..... thnx for using your brain

[Fliuck]

@Zaskhar The wings fold down into a`flat strip upon landing.

This does look a lot like NASA's Helious (Hope I spelled that right.)

[Brettah31]

@arnoldthegamer lol, that's what happens when you build a reactor on a tectonic hotspot. What have we learned? Build them in places where you don't get earthquakes.

[WarblesOnALot]

Well , it's a tad tenuous , but you-all may enjoy my SunFoil Project , the Short-talk (Update)May 2011 clip has newest info... The 3rd Prototype's a Faceted Aerofoil , ventilated with ramscoops to feed comsessed-air to the Boundary Layer Airflow-Control Vents. So the 30 watt PV 's downwash cuts 4% off the car's Aerodynamic Drag, at Highway-speed. Check the clips. Enjoy.

[NicholasBrett00]

as soon as i saw it i was like what the h#((

[bonds911]

fuck nasa .... check the swiss solar plane its the top solar plane with pilot thumbs up so people see it

[BrokenTVink]

this is the same as any "Green" machine, in testing it works but put some weight on it and it doesnt work anymore

[pladra22]

OMG there is eclipse! We are falling down! AAGHHH

[12oscar12]

then night falls...

[raphy1123]

@12oscar12 those planes can sustain powered flight all night before catching the first rays to recharge their batteries and all this without turning off their engines & so on...

[bogercs]

Look at that giant paper plane!

[clean60r]

there goes a flying bridge! it would be better idea to put some side mirrors too

[coolsax64]

Drill baby Drill! There will never be a practical use for a solar powered aircraft other than this just to make the greeny liberals feel like they are "doing" something to help the environment...

[iPipe0]

@coolsax64 lol truly... the sad thing is that alternate energy is hardly political anymore. its quickly becoming less about the earth an more about the fact that our primary fuel will run out essentially within our lifetime. no more ripping Lamborghini engines=(((( our grandkids will only get to hear the weak sounds of an electric motor.

[aINOCENTbudha]

it's wonky

[joeytubeify]

I ain't flying in one of those in England

[Blakeontape]

Reading these comments I realize how impressive Oil and Gas's hold on public opinion really is. They just keep people completely ignorant to alternatives so that they seem like fairytale's. Yes I am talking to all you cloud comments.

[MillyVanillification]

its a pity that inventors try to harvest sun energy when beneath their feet there is more energy than the sun could ever provide for the earth.

Nasa is doing this to show that they can do it. Its completely meaningless. Payload 45kg (if true), wingspan 30m? Why not using an airship?

This reminds me on NASA's zero-gravity-pen build for 6 million dollars, while the Russians used pencils. NASA: We do what we can because we can do it.

[ampthilluk]

@MillyVanillification what do you mean, "beneath their feet there is more energy than the sun could ever provide for the earth."?

[alexmcinnes123]

@ampthilluk its a pity they waste their time when there are natural resources beneath our feet, coal, gas, oil

[ampthilluk]

@alexmcinnes123 yeah but all that energy came from the sun.

[egmixere]

@alexmcinnes123 it's non-renewable sources of energy and it cause pollution, i guess you slept in the class right after they told u about coal,gas and oil

[brent440]

that's what I was gonna say....then the clouds come out..

[Costas1998]

no sun no fly lol

[aKILLAfromAPK]

all dumbass 'no sun out' jokes aside. your cell phone works when you leave the house. your laptop works unplugged. ITS CALLED CHARGING 

[Fekillix]

@aKILLAfromAPK FAIL!

[SirPyrobob1]

@netbeh Where did you get that information?

[ehelibuff73]

What happens when the sun goes down or a cloudy area approaches? Then it becomes a glider.

[netbeh]

actuaqlly boys you're all wrong XD

this plane has been in the ai none fucking stop for years....

in fact. nasa lost control of it in the ninties and for two years it circle the globe on autopilot, no one knew fucking where.. then somewhere over japan they spotted it, took control, and landed it. it is estimated to be able to fly for 20 years non stop.

also it stores enough energy while flying to fly during the night, and it will go above the clouds when flying,

[pingacoja]

@netbeh What if your mother swalow your fathers sperm in itead of comming inside her when you were being ....

[TheBeefBaron]

@netbeh Yeah that's completely false.

[TheCameoAfro1]

@netbeh really?????

[curtis52285]

I think this was purely experimental. It was not designed to fly at night or with clouds. I personally don't think it has batteries but I honestly don't know. Batteries add weight. The aircraft can store energy as altitute instead. If the sun goes behind a cloud the plane can glide unitl there is sun. This was to see if Man could do it. Nothing more nothing less.

[smartcocker]

MAINTAIN VFR!

[JedininjaZC]

People, please. This plane is meant to collect data in the atmosphere, not carry your hide on it. The plane probably sits outside and gets it's batteries charged from the sun before taking off, thus giving it a backup in case some cloud comes by. I would like to point out that this plane can avoid clouds by simply flying over them.

[chriswilliammoore]

question is, can it fly at night? huh

[Skullzero1]

cool island in the back

[Dobson90]

Where do the passengers sit?

[G3org3Master]

This must have secondary backup (batteries?) for incase clouds come.

[andoman121]

that craft looks like its on errant bird shit away from plummeting to the earth

[aRomanSoldier]

Why would you NOT want to use a few batteries with this thing?

Batteries can store energy when there is extra to go around, and release energy if there is a shortage. Now if it was daylight 24/7, it wouldn't matter, but let's try to be at least a little realistic.

[1rnicholson]

I know who's surviving a zombie apocalypse!

[Hondaridr58]

@1rnicholson until the sun sets at least.

[amberjacksolar]

That was pretty cool! Thanks for sharing it with us.

[kalosanin]

that thing looks like it could snap in half at any time

[skaterkid6322]

Let's ride!

[JuddMan03]

Bet it didn't take off on solar power

[st85047]

NASA嗎?

[PavleVuletic]

if you get in the night with this one you are in trouble lolz

[CREAMEGGOFDOOM]

MEGA RAMP

[t1oxETy]

i dont see why we need it :p

[maxpowersstp]

uhm no...

[amberjacksolar]

Nice video. Solar power is steadily taking over.

[Burni05]

lol you guys correcting me, it is a joke... sigghh

[Francis115pinoy]

DUMB PEOPLE, Jesus stop asking how it runs without sun, EVER HEARD OF CHARGING BATTERIES? DUMMIES.

[CmdrTobs]

@Francis115pinoy Yep, quite annoying isn't it. I refuse to believe people are saying such things seriously because rechargeable batteries in this day and age are hardly beyond casual experience.

It's more likely they're immature twats looking to make a puerile quip.

[KeenCapt]

@CmdrTobs The Helios and Pathfinder did have batteries. However, they were NOT rechargable. They were NiCADs and were only single use. At the time, rechargable batts were not light enough for the # of cells required to stay flying. When it went to 96,000+ feet, it only needed battery power on the way home. Since it was descending it was able to convert the motor drives from propuslion to windmilling electrical generators. The 2003 mission was going to demo fuel cell tech.

[CmdrTobs]

@KeenCapt I meant Li-ion due to there high energy density, cell voltage and low weight, not for in air recharging. That would require too high of a current to do, but checking the date I see this was back in the mid 90's.

You mentioned NiCADs, are rechargeable and they were not better than a few single use chemistries the could have used. Was that a mistake?

[klangwii]

@CmdrTobs lets just say you're a cunt

[fsxmaniac]

Nasa: "let's desing a solar driven aircraft, and remove the tail, Why?, because we love making cool stuff"

all i say is, that if that plane crashes down onto my house because of a computer fault, i'll stick a model aircrafts tail up the ***** of the designer.

[MyInstantRegret]

@fsxmaniac only a model? id shove a REAL plane up there o_O

[fsxmaniac]

@MyInstantRegret Now That's what i'm talking about!

[DrAwesomeish]

tree hugers

[lilm0333]

theres a problem! put some sound!

[JAXEVANS]

Thank God this is a test .....because that looks really stupid. lol

[barmybrummy1988]

its all good having fuel-less planes an all.....but were the f**k am i supposed to sit?!? cuz i aint hanging from the bottom for 12 hours across the giant pond for sh*t.

[kokofan50]

@barmybrummy1988 its not ment for people to fly in. 12 hours is nothing it could stay in the air for weeks.that why they made it unmaned. think about sitting flyiong a plane all day everyday for weeks.

[orthografe]

Boooooh! This is not a good plane, our swiss plane Solar Impulse can fly all the night long!

[2009razza]

Omg it's tht big how will t land lol

And what if it's dark....

"no sun...beep beep going down...beep beep going down"

[sinzscapepwnz]

@2009razza the solar cells charge the battery's then at night it uses them

[txeriff2k6]

is it true that if pilot farts the airplane goes down?

[s007m77]

o shit!!!.. a small cloud were going down!!

[mrjcllc1]

WOW all I have to say!

[chickenpoper]

todays forcast:sunny then a abrupt storm......Captian:oh shit......no sun :/

[amram24]

ummmm captain... we have a little overcast up ahead. pretty sure the last words you hear on this flight.

[ClubPenguinMrcool601]

Solar Power Generator Plant, at vector 260 on the.... wait wtf? on the air?!

[tellemscrappy]

OMG A FLYING RAMP!

[nuggert]

wow thats insane

[Olimpus3500]

you guys know, a plane can fly over clouds??

[SirAvalord]

@Olimpus3500 I don't think they have ever been in a plane =P

[LuckyyPremo]

and um would if it rains.. o.O

[Burni05]

then the clouds come out...

[canoelicker]

@Burni05 solar vehicles of any kind need to have the ability to store the energy they gather, so a cloud is insignificant.

[NelielTuOderswank]

@Burni05 ..And it continues flying unfazed on lithium ion batteries.

[arturdrozdz297374]

@Burni05 and the plane goes down lol

[DIMATIF]

@Burni05 It would still fly because the excess power will keep it running for a while.

[Ostrid1]

@Burni05 yeah but it can probably glide unpowered for landing reasons ?

[DancingSpiderman]

Q: What if the sun dragon Troggdor took a huge bite out of the sun... would the whirly plane crash into the ground before the sun was able to regrow itself back to a round shape?

[CalSolarEng]

This just looks so cool!

But does it have a commercial future?

[231johnjohnson]

guess why this plane wont fly at night lol

[aForkandaSpoon]

@231johnjohnson I don't know if anyone told ya, but this flies way up into the sky and then glides down very slowly at night, I also think it may have batteries. The non-american one does.

[HostileHST]

@231johnjohnson No headlights, lol

[SUHracing]

you wouldn't catch me in that thing!

[TheRajivxxx]

it is very difficult for HIJACKING

[andre4GBRAM]

I would laugh if that plane ended up under a cloud, that plane is doomed :)

[p0kegeek1]

And what if a cloud goes over it and blocks the sun? Everyone on it is screwed.

[Pajijic]

luv technology cuz they look modern

[joab302016]

this plane looks very flimsy to me.

[wdiasproduction]

eu também espero que dar certo, sabemos a maio poluição é avião,essa é unica forma de diminui a poluição, só que resolva una coisa e vem outro, na questão da poluição terrestre. mais sei que ele deve pensar sobre isso também, eles tem destino certo para as baterias... vocês sabe, que precisa delas, para quando chegar a noite,manter o avião no ar.rsrsrs, mais boa sorte para vocês.

[wdiasproduction]

I also hope to make it right, we know the air pollution is in May, this is only way to reduce pollution only solves that thing and come join the other, the issue of land pollution. most know that he should think about it too, they have the right destination for the batteries ... you know, who needs them, when to arrive at night, keep the plane ar.rsrsrs, more good luck to you.

[CalSolarEng]

wow!

its great to see how far solar will take us. Lets invest in this!