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Andrew Jones
Dr. Becnel
ENAE283H Sec. 0101
1 October 2015
Solar Aircraft Abstract
Finding alternative energy resources is a critical aspect to better sustaining our planet.

With rapid changes in the climate in the past century, it is becoming more prevalent that most of

these rapid changes stem through anthropogenic means. To tie into the aerospace industry, a

drawback of flight today is their reliance on fossil fuels as energy sources for propulsion. If the

rate at which these natural resources are consumed stays constant and we procrastinate to find

alternative energy sources, an international resource crisis is bound to occur, one that will have

been too late to avoid if left until the future.

In the 1970s, the creation of the first solar powered aircraft, Sunrise, sparked an idea for

alternative ways to power aircraft. Similarly with how solar panels on houses turns solar energy

into electricity to power houses, solar aircraft contain solar panels, usually on the wings, where

that energy transforms into electricity the aircraft can use it. If used effectively and efficiently,

this can greatly reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and natural gasoline that many aircrafts

consume today. To start, this paper seeks to look at the history behind the creation of solar

aircraft. Next, it will delve into a more general level of the components of these aircraft, more to

focus on how and why they work. Finally, based off what is currently known about them,

questions for future prototypes and what can be done to have them run more effectively will help

create discussion for future innovations and ideas I will present, including, but not limited to,

plausible challenges and solutions for these challenges.

References:

1) http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/3.45213
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Impulse
3) http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/1.C031757
4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_aircraft
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5) http://webharvest.gov/peth04/20041104013138/http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/reports/2003/CR-

2003-212084.pdf