Solar drone with jumbo jet wingspan broke a flight record—then it crashed

The final flight and complex legacy of a pioneering solar-powered aircraft.

See full article...

 

[oldArsReader]

The Navy used to do long-term patrols with blimps:
https://hackaday.com/2026/02/25/what-one-winged-squids-can-teach-the-airship-renaissance/

 

[Fatesrider]

That video looks and sounds like it was put together by a tweaking 18 year old Tiktoker shooting for a cyberpunk cool factor.

It's an unarmed, electric ultralight. Why does the fuck sound track have a dystopian apocalyptic vibe to it?

As for its military viability, it has none if you're going to be facing even a modest military threat. But against unarmed civilians in the ocean to guide in heavily armed warships, I guess that works.

And that explains the fucked-up dystopian apocalyptic sound track. It got the psychopaths in charge of the country murdering unarmed civilians all jazzed up, I'm sure.

 

[nzeid]

For those wondering, this plane used special-made NMC lithium-ion batteries. A very quick internet search shows they totalled 135kWh. I have no experience in what battery weights are viable for a plane that size, but it feels like even a minor improvement to energy density in the coming years will give them a substantial advantage.

 

[Bonobo]

[…] against unarmed civilians in the ocean to guide in heavily armed warships, I guess that works.

And that explains the fucked-up dystopian apocalyptic sound track. It got the psychopaths in charge of the country murdering unarmed civilians all jazzed up, I'm sure.

A voice of sanity, thank you!

 

[TehRoot]

That video looks and sounds like it was put together by a tweaking 18 year old Tiktoker shooting for a cyberpunk cool factor.

It's an unarmed, electric ultralight. Why does the fuck sound track have a dystopian apocalyptic vibe to it?

As for its military viability, it has none if you're going to be facing even a modest military threat. But against unarmed civilians in the ocean to guide in heavily armed warships, I guess that works.

And that explains the fucked-up dystopian apocalyptic sound track. It got the psychopaths in charge of the country murdering unarmed civilians all jazzed up, I'm sure.

This is a really specific rant about music on a video that has less than 1000 views with a byline that makes no sense.

Long range high endurance cheap surveillance assets are 100% relevant militarily.

 

[mknelson]

So... A solar powered plane was able to fly for over a week until the weather became too cloudy and it ran out of power?

That doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement for "perpetual flight" to me.

There is no mention of clouds.

“extreme vertical air mass variability exceeding 10 times typical climb and descent rates,”

Now they know to watch for and avoid that kind of extreme condition.

 

[Mostly Ignorant]

As a bit of a watch enthusiast, these guys missed out on a lucrative co-branding opportunity with Rolex.

 

[chekk]

"Solar drone with jumbo jet wingspan ..." story starts off interesting but then segues into "sophisticated kill chain"?!?
Didn't see that one incoming.

 

[TheJBW]

This is a really specific rant about music on a video that has less than 1000 views with a byline that makes no sense.

Long range high endurance cheap surveillance assets are 100% relevant militarily.

Yeah, but the video (and especially audio) is really obnoxious and cut like a 16 year old was trying to make a solar airplane look cool for other 16 year olds.

 

[ricardoRI]

That video looks and sounds like it was put together by a tweaking 18 year old Tiktoker shooting for a cyberpunk cool factor.

It's an unarmed, electric ultralight. Why does the fuck sound track have a dystopian apocalyptic vibe to it?

As for its military viability, it has none if you're going to be facing even a modest military threat. But against unarmed civilians in the ocean to guide in heavily armed warships, I guess that works.

And that explains the fucked-up dystopian apocalyptic sound track. It got the psychopaths in charge of the country murdering unarmed civilians all jazzed up, I'm sure.

Just turn off the sound. 99% of promo videos have unpleasant noise posing as “music” or “value added info@..

 

[Deranged]

There is no mention of clouds.

“extreme vertical air mass variability exceeding 10 times typical climb and descent rates,”

Now they know to watch for and avoid that kind of extreme condition.

Seems strange that they would maintain airborne operations of a prototype in unstable weather conditions instead of finding somewhere to land. Surely they must have been aware of the limited capacity of the built in batteries, and the kind of flying conditions the aircraft was built to endure.

 

[clackerd]

Seems strange that they would maintain airborne operations of a prototype in unstable weather conditions instead of finding somewhere to land. Surely they must have been aware of the limited capacity of the built in batteries, and the kind of flying conditions the aircraft was built to endure.

Especially given they did just that earlier

The drone eventually positioned itself south of Cuba and north of the Cayman Islands while waiting out a period of bad weather.

Maybe they encountered unexpected weather pretty quickly and weren't able to get out of it in time before the batteries failed?

 

[Navalia Vigilate]

Rest In Pieces, little repurposed war machine that couldn't.

 

[SubWoofer2]

In other news, Reuters report:

MANILA, May 13 - Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa called on the public to step in to prevent law enforcement agents from handing him over to the International Criminal Court as the sound of gunfire rattled through the Senate building on Wednesday evening.
Dela Rosa stands accused by the ICC of crimes against humanity related to the war on drugs he oversaw while serving as police chief under then President Rodrigo Duterte. ‌Dela Rosa, 64, has denied involvement in illegal killings.

The Philippine government has officially acknowledged 6,248 deaths due to the anti-drug campaign.
But activists say the real toll of the crackdown was far greater, with thousands of urban and poor drug users, many placed on official "watch lists", killed in mysterious circumstances.

Both Duterte and dela Rosa were unapologetic in their ⁠defence of the brutal campaign, insisting police were only told to kill in self-defence.

*****

As for the weather conditions that killed the aircraft, climb rates for large jet airliners are 1,000 to 3,000 feet per minute, and for large drones perhaps a maximum of 2,000 feet per minute. Severe turbulence can produce vertical air movements of 1,500 to 3,000 feet per minute.

“extreme vertical air mass variability exceeding 10 times typical climb and descent rates”

interpreted literally, that implies vertical velocity of 10,000 to 20,000 feet per minute. This is beyond ordinary “severe turbulence.” It's extreme convective storm cores; microbursts or downbursts; tornadoes or equivalent. Extreme thunderstorm updrafts in supercells can exceed 10,000 feet per minute internally.

Perhaps check the hurricane trackers near Cancun that day.

 

[FreezyJuice]

As for the weather conditions that killed the aircraft, climb rates for large jet airliners are 1,000 to 3,000 feet per minute, and for large drones perhaps a maximum of 2,000 feet per minute. Severe turbulence can produce vertical air movements of 1,500 to 3,000 feet per minute.



interpreted literally, that implies vertical velocity of 10,000 to 20,000 feet per minute. This is beyond ordinary “severe turbulence.” It's extreme convective storm cores; microbursts or downbursts; tornadoes or equivalent. Extreme thunderstorm updrafts in supercells can exceed 10,000 feet per minute internally.

Reminds me of paragliders who have been ripped up into storm systems, that must be one hell of an experience for as long as you're conscious, whether you make it or not!

 

[markgo]

This is a really specific rant about music on a video that has less than 1000 views with a byline that makes no sense.

Long range high endurance cheap surveillance assets are 100% relevant militarily.

Long range, yes. High endurance, questionable. Cheap, not.

This thing has an enormous radar signature. Hell, it's so big, it could be visually sighted in many conditons. It's a wonderful weapon for surveillance against enemies with no air assets or even decent SAMs. It's useless against anything else.

As far as cheap, according to Wikipedia:

The total cost to develop and operate the Solar Impulse 2 project, from 2003 through its round-the-world flight in 2016, was approximately CHF 170 million (roughly US$170–$200 million). It was financed by private corporate partners and individuals, rather than being sold as a commercial product

 

[Turbofrog]

In other news, Reuters report:





*****

As for the weather conditions that killed the aircraft, climb rates for large jet airliners are 1,000 to 3,000 feet per minute, and for large drones perhaps a maximum of 2,000 feet per minute. Severe turbulence can produce vertical air movements of 1,500 to 3,000 feet per minute.



interpreted literally, that implies vertical velocity of 10,000 to 20,000 feet per minute. This is beyond ordinary “severe turbulence.” It's extreme convective storm cores; microbursts or downbursts; tornadoes or equivalent. Extreme thunderstorm updrafts in supercells can exceed 10,000 feet per minute internally.

Perhaps check the hurricane trackers near Cancun that day.

For what it's worth, I'm pretty confident they mean 10x the design loads on this specific aircraft, not generically.

The Solar Impulse is an ultralight, ultra high-aspect ratio motor glider that flies with virtually no excess power budget. It's climb rate would be very, very much less than a commerical jet liner.

The aeroelasticity of these kinds of hyper optimized designs have led to even more spectacular issues in the past. The NASA Helios was a solar powered flying wing that flew in the late '90s - early 2000s but after several years of testing ultimately broke up into pieces due to extreme turbulent conditions.

 

[icrf]

In other news, Reuters report:





*****

As for the weather conditions that killed the aircraft, climb rates for large jet airliners are 1,000 to 3,000 feet per minute, and for large drones perhaps a maximum of 2,000 feet per minute. Severe turbulence can produce vertical air movements of 1,500 to 3,000 feet per minute.



interpreted literally, that implies vertical velocity of 10,000 to 20,000 feet per minute. This is beyond ordinary “severe turbulence.” It's extreme convective storm cores; microbursts or downbursts; tornadoes or equivalent. Extreme thunderstorm updrafts in supercells can exceed 10,000 feet per minute internally.

Perhaps check the hurricane trackers near Cancun that day.

I think the intention was that it was 10 times the ascent rate for this specific aircraft, which was much less powerful and capable than other drones or commercial airliners.

 

[RicDavis]

There is no mention of clouds.

“extreme vertical air mass variability exceeding 10 times typical climb and descent rates,”

Now they know to watch for and avoid that kind of extreme condition.

I am rather puzzled how it wasn’t obvious in the first place.

 

[Procedural_Username]

There is no mention of clouds.

“extreme vertical air mass variability exceeding 10 times typical climb and descent rates,”

Now they know to watch for and avoid that kind of extreme condition.

The time is also relevant: at 6:30 am, it would have flown all night and been in a minimal stored energy state. If the same weather conditions were encountered at 4pm with full batteries it probably wouldn't have been any sort of issue.

As much as I would prefer we weren't using every possible technology to murder civilians, this is probably a cheaper technology to build a panopticon with than another five thousand satellites in LEO, and when these get shot down it doesn't cause a Kessler cascade.

 

[jsully2549]

"After departing from Stennis International Airport in Mississippi"

I did loads of work at Stennis.

A hidden gem.

And a key to Katrina recovery.

 

[YetAnotherAnonymousAppellation]

the strikes violate both domestic and international law

In other words, business as usual for the Unprincipled Syndicate of Assholes.

 

[Techlight]

Long range, yes. High endurance, questionable. Cheap, not.

This thing has an enormous radar signature. Hell, it's so big, it could be visually sighted in many conditons. It's a wonderful weapon for surveillance against enemies with no air assets or even decent SAMs. It's useless against anything else.

As far as cheap, according to Wikipedia:

Sure, it's research after all. The development cost of a (single) prototype is always going to be extremely high, and not as capable as future generations could become. But you have to start somewhere. "Standing on the shoulders of giants" works even if it means you have to stand on your own past's shoulders .

If this is viable in the long run, the better battery technology (and perhaps material technology) will make it faster, smaller and fitter for purpose. And cheaper and faster to build a fleet of. Even if satellites are good enough to do detailed permanent surveillance, they are not as easy to replace quickly in battle, and having assets in the air that can stay there day and night (at least one cycle) and do not have to be recalled to refuel seems to me an advantage at least in some cases.

 

[LordEOD]

As another commenter pointed out, I was completely blindsided by this aircraft's repurposing from a renewable technology demonstrator to a kill-chain component.
Quite a change of careers...

It creates mixed feelings.
On the one hand, very exited at the prospect of craft powered by renewables especially in how it will push forward battery and motor technology as well as more efficient designs as they, say, want to better integrate solar panel elements into different profiles of wings or the fuselage, etc.
On the other hand, if said technology is being developed solely for the purposes of furthering extra-judicial murders in international waters (or the sovereign territorial waters of another nation) then, how can I really want to cheer for that?

To be clear, 1000 curses upon drug cartels.
But I've never been a subscriptor to the concept of having to become a monster to fight monsters - that's not what I want for any US service member.

 

[RoninX]

As another commenter pointed out, I was completely blindsided by this aircraft's repurposing from a renewable technology demonstrator to a kill-chain component.
Quite a change of careers...

They wouldn't be the first. Consider AeroVironment.

How it started:

Paul Beattie MacCready Jr. (September 25, 1925 – August 28, 2007) was an American aeronautical engineer. He was the founder of AeroVironment and the designer of the human-powered aircraft that won the first Kremer prize. He devoted his life to developing more efficient transportation vehicles that could "do more with less".[1]

MacCready was also a passionate environmentalist who was concerned about humanity's role in the depletion of natural resources. "Environmentally conscious, technologically clever, and culturally grand, Paul wanted to change the world through reason, intelligence, and creativity", Shermer wrote of him in an obituary.[68]

How it's going:

The U.S. Army has awarded a massive contract valued at close to $1 billion to AeroVironment for the delivery of Switchblade-series loitering munitions, also known as kamikaze drones, over the next five years. This is part of a larger effort that the service has said is intended to help make its infantry units just as lethal as formations with tanks and other heavy armored vehicles amid a pivot to preparing for potential high-end fights, especially one against China in the Pacific.

As already noted, the Army and others within the U.S. military have already been buying Switchblades. For the Army, specifically, its huge new order for these kamikaze drones reflects a major push to field them in far greater numbers, especially within infantry units. Loitering munitions offer dismounted infantry formations, even at the lowest levels, valuable new ways to engage various kinds of targets well beyond the reach of traditional man-portable missiles, rockets, and similar weapons, and from the safety of cover.

 

[Ralf The Dog]

This was a fantastic demonstration/test platform put to a truly evil function.

 

[jack1983]

Long range high endurance cheap surveillance assets are 100% relevant militarily.

Only if it's cheap though, which this most certainly isn't. Anything this large, this slow and this delicate will get immediately swatted out of the sky by an interceptor drone, or a conventional SAM if it's too high for a drone. The only way this makes sense is if you can deploy thousands of them, and don't care if 90% are attritted. Or if the people you are monitoring are completely defenceless, in which case it's not really a military operation any more.