t
Tecknow
FIRST
IS IT A DRONE OR
A SATELLITE?
The StratoBus offers long endurance and complete autonomy from a fixed position
Photograph: Thales
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With UAVs crowding navigable airspace and plans underway to put giant mega-satellites into orbit, it was just a matter of time before a drone-satellite hybrid was developed to fit
between the two spaces. StratoBus, a new project out of France,
is conceptualised to do just that. Designed to be about the length
of a football field and 25 yards in diameter, the blimp-shaped
vehicle’s shell will be made of carbon fibre.
Without a launcher, StratoBus floats to the lower stratosphere at an altitude of about 21 km where developers say it
will be in a perfect position to carry out a range of functions,
including surveillance, border security monitoring, communications reinforcement and facilitating navigation, all from a stationary position with the help of two self-adjusting electric motors. StratoBus will be able to endure missions of up to a year
with a total lifetime of five years.
The ultra-lightweight design allows for a plug-and-play ^KB