From environment-friendly cars,
researchers move on to an environment-friendly aircraft, which derives all its energy from sunlight.
Developed by a team of scientists from AcroVironment, an engineering company based in Simi
Valley, California, this new version
of Pathfinder, a 18 1 -kg acroplane, is
to begin test flights soon (Nature,
Vol 375, No 6528).
AcroVironment hopes to get
this unmanned aircraft to attain
heights of 20,000 mietres and touch
speeds of 160 knn an hour.
Lightweight silicon solar cell
arrays laid out on the 74-square
metre wings make the new version
twice as efficient as its predecessor.
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