Stephen A. Lawrence <[email protected]> wrote: I suppose it's not actually WIFI . . . >
I think it is cell phone technology, not WiFi. Cell phone towers use a lot of power, so I do not know how this will work. The aircraft will communicate with one-another and with ground stations using lasers. > If they really draw 5 kw (as per the last paragraph), well, that's > impressive on the one hand (7 horsepower or thereabouts is not much for > keeping a plane up) but on the other hand, the solar panels need to put out > more than twice that much if it's going to stay up 24 hours . . . > The panels + batteries on this machine produce and store enough electricity to keep it going 24 hours a day. Output is 5 kW but the panels produce more than that. The plan is to slowly fly up much higher than commercial aircraft, and then loiter over one spot of 3 months or so. Then another aircraft will take up station while this one is brought down for maintenance. - Jed
