Solar Powered Aircrafts

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A challenging innovation: A solar powered plane

While the 1970's are known for many fashion trends, most people are unaware of one major trend sparked in November of 1974. That was the year that the first solar powered aircraft took flight. At the time, it was a NASA project, although there were hopes that the technology could be developed for widespread use.

Now, some 35 years after the original solar powered plane flight, the mainstream airlines are still flying environmentally harsh diesel powered planes.
What happened to the hopes of the first researchers? What has happened to the innovative, if edgy, idea of a solar airplane?

The short answer is that they're still working on it. It isn't a project that has ever gone away. However, rather than taking things into a consumer market, most of the research has focused on military or domestic surveillance activities.

Aviation industry is exploring possibilities of a solar airplane fleet

Solar powered aircraft as well suited for drones and other small, lightweight monitoring planes. Since their goal is to hover rather than swiftly maneuver, the power load can be carefully managed. They can also stay aloft for long periods of time because they don't carry a heavy fuel or passenger load.

Yet even as government usage of solar powered plane models increases, aviation industry players have been continuing to explore the possibilities of a solar airplane fleet. The ups and downs of the market for aircraft fuel are a severe strain on the bottom line, and struggling firms have already hit consumers with hefty fuel surtaxes in an attempt to recover some of the money. They look to solar powered aircraft as an opportunity to bolster their bottom lines and get better control over their energy and fuel budgets.

However, before any solar powered plane could be used in the domestic market, it would have to pass years of safety testing. This is a significant burden. It is not to imply that a solar airplane used by the government would have had less testing, but merely to remind readers that having live passengers aboard raises the bar for safety regulations that must be meet.

As a result of all the safety barriers, the development process is limited. Airlines struggle to find qualified mechanics for the planes that they do have, and to have to add new mechanics for solar planes would be a big expense. When the empty planes parked throughout the country are considered, it is no wonder that firms aren't putting more pressure on the development of new aircraft technologies - they haven't found a use for all of their old planes yet.

However, there is no doubt that at some point in the future there will be additional breakthroughs on the solar aircraft initiative for the public market. There are just too many other areas of life where solar power is becoming the most reliable kind of power available. Oil and other fossil fuels will not be around forever to let the status quo continue as they are, so eventually functional solar planes will come off the drawing board and down the runway.