Press Release / Government / Spain’s First Unmanned Aircraft to Take to the Skies by The End of the Year

Spain’s First Unmanned Aircraft to Take to the Skies by The End of the Year

Madrid, Spain, July 15, 2013 - This project, which is being pioneered in Spain, has been developed by the Institute for Technology and Renewable Energy (ITER) and funded by the Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness.

The School of Aeronautical Engineering of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) has already conducted the first virtual flight of PRONTAS(Prototype Unmanned Solar-Powered Aircraft), it has told Europa Press. The company Aernnova and the Advanced Technical School of Aeronautics have also participated in the project.

This is a completely autonomous, non-polluting, unmanned solar-powered plane, which will be used for civil purposes on surveillance, emergency and fire-fighting missions. It weighs less than 80 kilos, will fly up to an altitude of 8,000 metres at around 40 kilometres per hour, and is powered by the solar panels that cover its eight-metre wings.

A flight simulator has been developed to find out how the plane will perform prior to its launch. This is being used to analyse how it will work in different scenarios and in adverse weather conditions.

This €1.5 million research project, the main aim of which is to use solar power in aeronautics, is also an academic and training project, involving students from the UPM as well as foreign universities. Two students from the Beijing Institute of Technology are currently carrying out their end-of-degree project at the UPM’s School of Aeronautical Engineering as part of this project.

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