NASA Albatross Dynamic Soaring Open Ocean Persistent Platform UAV Concept

[Womenftw12345]

this is possible but the plane would have a limited range of flight distance even gliding because you would have to rely on winds and winds can be crazy sometimes in the open acoean

[legion2]

i would recommend using taido yuden PAS capacitor instead of a battery. please share information about lightweight LIDAR. this seems to me to be a difficult thing to achieve!

[legion2]

i hope you guys manage a way to do this. theres so much excitement in the concept of unpowered uavs.

[pauljs75]

If you had a way to regularly identify where wind-shear is occurring at altitude and during clear weather, it would be possible to take this dynamic soaring to a whole new level. (Quite literally in fact.) Instead of skirting breakers, it could be surfing the jet-stream. Apparently I'm not the first with this idea, and was considered possible based on research in the 1970's. (Other than the problem of finding wind-shear in clear skies, the electronics now exist to make it work.)

[NASAPAV]

Small lightweight LIDAR systems are just now becoming available to 'see' the wind shear. Besides doing DS down low like this, Greg Cole in Oregon is attempting to set the world altitude gliding record through exactly what you are talking about - he has a very exciting research project that is being assisted by a longtime U2 pilot. So you are quite correct.

[recoveringcultmember]

Is this a way to fake a geostatic satelite?

[GreenAce92]

That's a neat way to mount your powerplant... what happens if one is stronger than the other (or one engine dies) does it mean that it can't fly on one?

I like the concept of the aircraft or the "looks of it" nice sea plane. (Looks like it to me hull and small pontoons

[magua73]

I love it when technology imitates nature.

[2bornot2b1984]

Pt.2

Even if you lost the uplink, as soon as it re-charged it would start sending out signal again and you could re-launch it.

I think there are enough publicly available GPS utilities to build the craft from existing components without having to design much proprietary equipment/protocols.

[NASAPAV]

Yes, I think this is doable - but I don't know enough about maintaining GPS for an around the world flight. You could use a simple satellite phone modem to monitor location (and even transmit still pictures every once in a while - but the modem speed is quite low for Iridium). This could be done - but this is not a NASA type of effort, but is better suited as a private effort to establish a world record.

[AuroraCypher]

Cool so u really work for Nasa ?

My hero ! <3

thanks for all the lovely airplanes videos

Im gonna try to copy some of it design for my RC planes =)

[NASAPAV]

Would love to see R/C versions of these vehicles! Let me know and maybe I will buy them from you (with my own money, not NASA funds).

I see a great deal of value from sub-scale demonstrators - for instance, it would be great to attempt to do dynamic soaring over ocean wind experiments to test maneuvers, and regenerative prop/turbine capabiility.

[2bornot2b1984]

"I see a great deal of value from sub-scale demonstrators"

I agree. When is someone going to attempt the first around the world flight by a remote vehicle?

Are there enough satellite uplink options for the general public to attempt to construct such a vehicle using existing public GPS infrastructure?

It would be super cool if it was solar, didn't need a groomed runway, so it could land and recharge anywhere, and had live video uplink that could be viewed at any time.

[2bornot2b1984]

Pt.2

You could put the live video feed on the web, and sell advertising.

:-)

[NASAPAV]

I think this is a great idea - there are several efforts attempting solar around the world - but doing it remotely would require chase planes. The FAA and other countries are still very uptight about UAVs (for good reason). But there are incredible techs to make this very practical.

[2bornot2b1984]

Pt. 1

If there is publicly available GPS transmission that could be utilized, I think it would be quite simple to accomplish.

Perhaps even a very small balloon would be best. Basically the goal would be to design the

craft so that it could set down whenever it needed to and recharge. A craft that could float down without power and survive a rough crash landing would be best.

Cont...

[JacquesMare]

Hmm, in theory this works but in practice I doubt. As a RC glider enthusiast, I will say there are some limitations - firstly, the swell delivers some lift but not that much so you have to keep the airframe very light - not much room for payload and batteries; secondly if the UAV lands on the ocean, it must either be able to fold up its wing or able to survive a wave strike or both, hard design that ! Also taking off from water is much harder than tarmac, especially where waves are involved. Um

[NASAPAV]

Thanks for explaining your perspective - here's ours. The waves have no influence on the ability to dynamically soar - it's all about the change in horizontal wind velocity in the surface boundary layer (which is 30 to 100 ft tall). As long as we can 'see' the swells with laser scanners to avoid them, we are OK. Yes, the vehicle has to remain very light, but the battery weight will be very small since that is only for a few seconds at takeoff

[NASAPAV]

One other thing - we don't want to fold the wing (too heavy). If there are waves, that means there is wind, and the aircraft will be up in the air. It only lands when there is no wind available to conduct dynamic soaring.

[meggsy]

This design is inspired. I'd love to see this put into action for climate study and also for simultaneously being able to help in searches at sea. I can imagine that a flock of these combing back and forth would be remarkably effective.

[NASAPAV]

Yes, you are correct - but when the animator tried to show small waves they just don't show up. The fact is we don't need ANY waves for this to work - just a horiztontal wind gradient. This is why dynamic soaring is possible for an Albatross, and will be possible for UAVs to provide persistence in open ocean envrionmrents. Thanks for your reality check.

[laveryptes]

such huge waves that close together? hahah.. ain't possible