Quote:
Originally Posted by kach22i
Solar panel electric drones flying overhead 24/7 using batteries at night cannot be far off.
Corkscrew up during the day, corkscrew down flight path at night.
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The technology is getting there. I worked on the Vulture Program at DARPA in the early stages.
http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/TTO/Programs/Vulture.aspx
Speed and payload, as OWP mentioned, are limiting factors for commercial travel at reasonable gross weights.
In the small UAS I use in commercial work, they are all electric for any number of reasons, vibration mostly. We get amazing endurance from small battery footprints but our payloads are under 5lbs.
I am working with the Silent Falcon guys. They have one of the best emerging small UAS there is:
Silent-Falcon sUAS
