Don Nolan-Proxmire

Headquarters, Washington, DC September 13, 1995

(Phone: 202/358-1983)

Don Haley
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
(Phone: 805/258-3456)

RELEASE: 95-152

NEW SOLAR-POWERED ALTITUDE RECORD SET IN NASA TEST FLIGHT

A NASA unpiloted, remotely-controlled aircraft, using

the Sun's energy to fly to stratospheric altitudes, achieved
a milestone flight demonstration on September 11, that could
lead to better understanding of the upper atmosphere and the
effect of greenhouse gases on Earth's environment.

The aircraft is called Pathfinder and is one of several

unpiloted prototype research vehicles under study by NASA.
The flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards,
CA, was the first in a series of high altitude tests of the
solar-powered aircraft, developed by AeroVironment Inc.,
Monrovia, CA. During the nearly 12-hour mission, Pathfinder
-- controlled from a ground station -- reached an altitude
of 50,500 feet, a new record for a solar-powered aircraft.

The all-wing aircraft, weighing less than 600 pounds,

is being evaluated by a NASA-industry alliance in a program
to develop technologies necessary to operate unpiloted
aircraft at altitudes of up to 100,000 feet on environmental
sampling missions lasting up to a week or more. The
evaluation program is called ERAST -- Environmental Research
Aircraft and Sensor Technology -- and is part of NASA's
Mission to Planet Earth effort to study and protect the
environment. Among the technologies being looked at by the
NASA-industry ERAST alliance, in addition to solar power,
are lightweight materials, avionics, sensor technology,
aerodynamics, and other forms of propulsion suitable for
extreme altitudes.

"The Pathfinder flight demonstrated the viability of

solar technology for high altitude unpiloted aircraft and
cleared a path towards the environmental research aircraft
of the twenty-first century," said Jennifer Baer-Reidhart,
ERAST Project Manager. "The altitude achievement was a
major milestone for the program and also demonstrated the
capability of the vehicle to carry scientific payloads and
other experiments into the stratosphere."
-more-

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During the flight, which began at 9:29 a.m. PDT on

Rogers Dry Lakebed at Edwards, Pathfinder was carrying four
small payloads: a device designed by NASA's Ames Research
Center, Moffett Field, CA, to collect aerosol-size data; a
solar cell calibration computer from NASA's Lewis Research
Center, Cleveland, OH; a Navy communications relay unit; and
a strain gauge package to collect data on Pathfinder's
composite structure.

Maximum altitude was reached at about 3:30 p.m. PDT.

Altitude was limited because of available sunlight for solar
cell operations. The vehicle landed back on Rogers Dry
Lakebed at 8:25 p.m. PDT.

Data from the payloads and flight recording system will

be analyzed in preparation for a second high-altitude
mission in the near future.

Previous holder of the solar aircraft record of 14,000

feet was the Solar Challenger, also built by AeroVironment
Inc. The company also developed the human-powered Gossamer
Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft.

-end-

RESOURCE PHOTOGRAPHS: Digital photos are available at

the Dryden World Wide Web home page at URL:

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/PhotoServer/photoServer.html in the
"Dryden Research Aircraft Photo Archive" (EC95-43261-1 and
EC95-43261-2) in the "Dryden News and Feature Photos" file.

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