An Oklahoma City-based company says it's on the cusp of developing a solar-powered drone that will effectively never have to land. “We are developing what we believe is the world’s first operationally viable perpetual flight platform," said Barry Matsumori, COO of Skydweller Aero. The airliner-sized platform, with a wingspan greater than that of a 747, flew six times in 2024 from Stennis International Airport in Mississippi. Four of the flights were fully autonomous. The longest was 22.5 hours and the drone got as high as 33,000 feet.
Skydweller is the most robust of the solar aircraft flying today. It is based on the record setting manned aircraft Solar Impulse 2. Now uncrewed and autonomous with unlimited endurance, it will fly around rather than through bad weather.
With that wingspan I imagine it could fly over most of the weather. I wish they wouldn’t say “perpetual” when they really mean “long-duration”. But I get it. If they really had made a perpetual flyer they could show their commitment by not putting landing gear on it.
I’ve been to Oklahoma many times and if I lived there I wouldn’t want to land either, Except at Ponca City, to have the best Mexican in the world at Enrique’s!
Finding drugs and pirates is all well and fine but this craft looks better suited to give StarLink a competitor for wilderness internet or long duration searches such as a magnetometer search for MH370.
As a communications relay loitering at 30,000 feet-ish max, it would be pretty limited when compared to Starlink with its carpet of satellites over any given area. It would be better suited for the pinpoint optical applications they are talking about, but in the end it all comes down to overall cost. Even government applications have their financial limits.