United Arab Emirates company Mira Aerospace has completed the first public test flight of its solar-powered ApusNeo18 unmanned air vehicle (UAV).
The flight reached “stratospheric altitudes”, says Space42, parent company of Mira Aerospace.
Space42 provided an image of the aircraft in flight, but did not provide details such as the altitude reached, length of the flight, test location, or its specific timing. During the flight the aircraft carried an Earth observation platform developed by Mira.
Still, it said that the sortie validated the aircraft’s suitability for commercial service.
With an 59ft wingspan, the ApusNeo18 has a ceiling of 59,000ft, and can carry a 4kg (8.8lb) payload.
“The successful test flight of ApusNeo18 marks the culmination of a comprehensive testing programme to commercialize our latest payload technology,” says Khaled Al Morzooqi, chief executive of both Mira Aerospace and Space42.
“Sustaining solar-powered flight and reaching stratospheric altitudes in this season demonstrates reliable performance at scale. This achievement accelerates Space42’s mission to deliver premium geospatial intelligence and reflects the pace and precision with which Mira Aerospace is engineering advanced, high-altitude systems.”
The ApusNeo18 evolved from the ApusNeo14 subscale model. Its missions will include environmental monitoring and disaster response.
