Solar drone with jumbo jet wingspan broke a flight record—then it crashed
Rise and fall of Skydweller
The final flight and complex legacy of a pioneering solar-powered aircraft.
The solar-powered drone operated by Skydweller Aero has wings as wide as a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Credit: Skydweller Aero
A solar-powered drone has been lost at sea after a record-breaking flight lasting eight days between late April and early May. The crash also marks the untimely demise of the pioneering aircraft Solar Impulse 2, which previously performed the world’s first solar-powered crossings of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans before becoming an uncrewed test platform for US military missions.
The carbon-fiber aircraft could perform such feats of aeronautical endurance while running solely on renewable energy and batteries because of a 236-foot (72-meter) wingspan—comparable to a Boeing 747 jumbo jet’s wings—covered with more than 17,000 solar cells. The company Skydweller Aeropurchased and modified the original Solar Impulse 2 aircraft to become a test platform...
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