A solar-powered drone was lost at sea after completing a record-breaking flight that lasted eight days between late April and early May. The crash also ended the operational life of the pioneering aircraft Solar Impulse 2, which had previously achieved the world’s first solar-powered crossings of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans before being repurposed as an uncrewed test platform for U.S. military missions.
The carbon-fiber aircraft achieved such endurance feats while running solely on renewable energy and batteries, thanks to its massive 236-foot (72-meter) wingspan—comparable to a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The wings were covered with more than 17,000 solar cells. The company Skydweller Aero acquired and modified the original Solar Impulse 2 to serve as a test platform for “perpetual uncrewed flight,” with the ability to carry up to 800 pounds (363 kilograms) of payload.
Skydweller Aero was conducting test flights for maritime patrol mission scenarios with the U.S. military when the aircraft took off on its final flight in the early morning hours of April 26. The drone was operating under these military contracts when it crashed.
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