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Dryden Flight Research Center - News Room: News Releases: 2003
EXPERIMENTAL FUEL CELL AIRPLANE BEGINS NASA TESTS IN HAWAII -- PHOTOS
ONLINE
June 7, 2003
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center News Releases > 2003 > 03-29

Release: 03-29
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--nasa--
Note to Editors:

NASA's Helios Prototype electrically powered flying wing
began a checkout flight June 7 from the Navy's Pacific
Missile Range Facility on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
This flight promises to be the first time a large
aircraft has been powered by fuel cell technology.

The first flight of a large aircraft to be powered by electric
fuel cells began with a takeoff at 8:43 a.m. today from the
Hawaiian island of Kauai.

The Helios Prototype flying wing, built by AeroVironment,
Inc., of Monrovia, Calif., as part of NASA's Environmental
Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program, used
solar panels to power its 10 electric motors for takeoff and
during daylight portions of its planned 20-hour shakedown
flight. As sunlight diminishes, Helios will switch to a fuel
cell system to continue flight into the night.

Today's takeoff sets the stage for a two-day Helios endurance
flight in the stratosphere planned for mid-July. The Helios
wing, spanning 247 feet and weighing about 2,400 pounds, is
giving NASA and industry engineers confidence that remotely
piloted aircraft will be able to stay aloft for weeks at a
time, providing environmental monitoring capabilities and
telecommunications relay services.

Helios is an all-electric airplane. In addition to being
non-polluting, Helios can fly above storms, and use the power
of the sun to stay aloft during daylight. Key to the success
of this type of aircraft is the ability to fly in darkness,
using fuel cells when sunlight cannot furnish energy.

The flights of Helios this summer are from the Navy's Pacific
Missile Range Facility, where favorable sun exposure and test
ranges closed to other air traffic will benefit the NASA
research effort.

Still photos and video footage of prior flights are available
to support this release. Photos are available on the NASA
Dryden Flight Research Center internet website at:

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/Helios/HTML/ED03-0152-1.html

or the Helios Gallery at:

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/Helios/index.html

For photo prints or video dubs, please call (661) 276-2665.

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Public Affairs Office
Edwards, CA 93523
(661) 276-3449
FAX (661) 276-3566

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