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Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

#81

Post by loxias »

This is GREAT! I've been interested in this space for a long time, and a friend started a UAV company.

I've got nothing much to say other than it feels GREAT to see someone else doing a project I've always wanted to do but likely never would have gotten around to, and doing it well. Now I don't feel a "responsibility" to do it. ;-) Do feel free to hit me up if you ever need programming or DSP help ;-)

I'm curious: what are the scaling laws for this? What I mean is, what's the smallest plane that could still do continuous (or nearly continuous) flight?

Also curious what panels and batteries you're using (heck, I'm curious about the whole BOM... :)).

Don't worry, you'll have so many applications...

Have you put much thought into data uplink/downlink?

Gosh I'd love to stick some sensors on a half dozen of these and have a giant phased array...

Could a glider stay aloft for longer with less cost (long term) given a "Refueling" copter? I imagine a solar ground station with a drone physically moving charged batteries up and down might be another interesting way to stay aloft. I didn't say better. Just "interesting." :)

Can you also fly low altitudes?

Are the propellers so loud as to make microphones useless?

Honestly, SO COOL, and best of luck!

Re: Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

#82

Post by yellow_lead »

frontiersummit wrote: post #62
moralestapia wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think one could just "throw" something 70k feet up in the air.

Climbing to altitude is the straightforward part. The transition from zero knots to the stall speed of the aircraft (minimum speed at which it can remain airborne) is the tricky bit. Designing for a lower stall speed necessitates wings which produce higher drag (by being larger) which requires more propulsion, which means bigger batteries and motors. So launching from a catapult or rocket or mothership or whatever me…

Launch on a hydrogen balloon

Re: Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

#84

Post by hermitcrab »

frontiersummit wrote: post #62
moralestapia wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think one could just "throw" something 70k feet up in the air.

Climbing to altitude is the straightforward part. The transition from zero knots to the stall speed of the aircraft (minimum speed at which it can remain airborne) is the tricky bit. Designing for a lower stall speed necessitates wings which produce higher drag (by being larger) which requires more propulsion, which means bigger batteries and motors. So launching from a catapult or rocket or mothership or whatever me…

Launching by rocket means the plane would have to be pretty rugged to survive it. And that means more weight. You also have the issue of deployment. Folding wings means more weight and more things to go wrong.

Re: Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

#85

Post by imdsm »

loxias wrote: post #81

This is GREAT! I've been interested in this space for a long time, and a friend started a UAV company. I've got nothing much to say other than it feels GREAT to see someone else doing a project I've always wanted to do but likely never would have gotten around to, and doing it well. Now I don't feel a "responsibility" to do it. ;-) Do feel free to hit me up if you ever need programming or DSP help ;-) I'm curious: wh…

I'm glad I'm not the only one that has always wanted to do this but hasn't been able to. Requires a certain dedication of time & energy that many of us (especially 30s+) just don't really have.

I was going to ask essentially every question you asked so thank you, saved me some time. Waiting for answers too! So cool. Must be incredibly fun and satisfying. Just think of the telemetry! Just think of the data! The sensors and the actuators! My goodness.

Re: Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

#87

Post by ok_dad »

So at the Nurburgring, when they have endurance races, they use aircraft as “satellites“ for sending data from cars, such as onboard video and telemetry. Most race tracks can just use regular signals but this track is huge and wraps around a mountain, so you’d need either thousands of repeaters or the aircraft they currently use.

You guys should try and see if they could use your tech, it seems a perfect fit and might be good fit for marketing for both sides.

Re: Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

#88

Post by jthomaslm »

e-_pusher wrote: post #63

Didn’t Facebook pursue this idea also? Do you know the details and why they didn’t end up succeeding? https://www.theverge.com/a/mark-zuckerberg-future-of-faceboo...

Yes, FB were trying something similar to this with Aquila. We actually used to work with a few people on that project, it sounds like the all composite flying-wing design was a bit of a challenge for them. I also understand they weren’t providing internet direct-to-device, just as backhaul for cell towers, which proved to be a difficult business case. In the end they partnered with Airbus on some projects, but I don’t know what came of that.

Re: Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

#89

Post by dpedu »

pugworthy wrote: post #71
nickmcc wrote: post #65

Daniel, from RCTESTFLIGHT on YouTube, has a series of videos where he experiments with solar airplanes, which wad really interesting to watch from the standpoint of a RC and electronics hobbyist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXvxJNOIXBsM83XxVG7tDUmql...

I love that guy's channel. He does some pretty fun and interesting projects. Bonus is when he writes and records one of his songs for whatever he's building.

I'm just floored by how talented the guy is. Amazing channel.

Re: Launch HN: Radical (YC W23) – Autonomous high-altitude solar aircraft

#90

Post by hef19898 »

woodlander87 wrote: post #55
bloopernova wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not well-read on the technology involved. Is it possible (feasible?) to use a high altitude balloon to get a plane to altitude? You could either detach from the balloon, or use spare solar power to deflate the balloon in case you need it again. Maybe the balloon could help maintain altitude at night.

Perhaps not as high altitude as the stratosphere, but the US was experimenting with deployment and 'landing' of fixed wing aircraft from airships in the 1930s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Akron

They also tried building aircraft carriers out of ice in the 40s. Doesn't mean it was a good idea.
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