Aurora reveals plans for solar UAV

Manassas, Va.-based Aurora Flight Sciences took the wraps off of its concept for a solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle today that is designed to stay aloft for up to five years, and can even split into three separate planes.

The unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, is part of project Vulture for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Aurora is one of three contractors selected to work on the project for the agency, which wants a UAV in the air that can perform intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and communication missions.

The UAV needs to be able to carry a 1,000 pound payload.

The other contractors working on the project are Chicago-based Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Bethesda, Md.'s Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT).

Boeing said its contract was valued at $3.8 million. Aurora and Lockheed did not disclose the financial details of their agreements.

Each contractor is submitting its own design for the program, with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, expected to eventually choose a final design.

DARPA is part of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Aurora already has a number of UAVs in the air and in development, as well as one that is designed for long flights, but not quite long enough for Vulture.

"When Orion goes up, it can stay on station for four days at a time," Patricia Woodside, spokeswoman for Aurora, told the Cleantech Group.

The Orion HALL, for High Altitude, Long Loiter, aircraft is currently under development for the U.S. Army. Powered by liquid hydrogen, the first flight for the Orion is scheduled for 2009.

Take a look at the Orion here >>

Designed for military and civilian applications, Aurora said the Orion could fly above weather patterns, making high resolution meteorological observations.

Aurora's design for the DARPA Vulture project is named Odysseus. Unlike the Orion, which has a stout body, Odysseus is more of a lean machine.

Check out a rendering of the Odysseus >>

Designed to fly in the stratosphere throughout its mission, Aurora said that during the day, the aircraft can adjust its wings in a Z-wing configuration in order to maximize the amount of solar energy collected on the surface of the plane.

At night, Odysseus flies on energy from on-board batteries, with its wings spread flat for maximum aerodynamic efficiency.

The flat-wing configuration >>

Those different sections of the aircraft are actually three separate vehicles. The three "constituent aircraft" are each a complete, self-sufficient airplane with a wingspan of approximately 50 meters, or 164 feet.

Once in the air, the three planes are docked together, forming a single vehicle with a wingspan longer than that of three Boeing 767s.

Sparks, Nev.-based Sierra Nevada is developing the rendezvous and docking system for Aurora. London's BAE Systems (LSE: BA) is working on the sensors and concept of operations, and Cambridge, Mass.-based C.S. Draper Laboratories is developing ultra-high-reliability electronic controls.

Aurora said because Odysseus will be made of constituent aircraft, each one can be replaced if needed throughout the mission.

The company said each constituent aircraft can, by itself, control the entire aircraft. Each separate section has three engines.

While some of the systems used in Aurora's various UAVs have similar technologies, there are some significant leaps with the new plane.

"The GoldenEye 80, and Excaliber and Orion, they're all very different," said Woodside, but she noted that "the Excaliber and the GoldenEye 80 both use some of the same technology."

The GoldenEye 80 is is a vertical-takeoff and landing aircraft that has a laser designator or laser rangefinder payload and support equipment.

The Excalibur is an armed, tactical UAV that is expected to use a turbine-electric hybrid propulsion system.

"Some of the same science goes from vehicle to vehicle, but there's nothing quite like this," Woodside said of the Odysseus aircraft.

DARPA said the first phase of the Vulture program, which will run for 12 months, will conclude with a concept design review of sub-scale and full-scale demonstration vehicles.

In the program's second phase, the contractors will conduct an uninterrupted three-month flight test of a sub-scale demonstrator.

The third and final phase of the program will consist of a flight test of the full-scale demonstrator vehicle, where the companies will need to keep their planes in the air for a full 12 months.