By John R. Bednarz

A team of engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that can remain aloft for five days that could be used for disaster relief missions. The engineers are part of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Beaver Works Center and recently presented their research results at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Denver, Colorado. Previous UAS designs, such as Facebook’s Aquila drone, have suggested that an aircraft could be solar-powered and remain in flight indefinitely, but the team of engineers determined that this was not feasible for long duration emergency response missions in locations far from the equator during seasons when there is not as much sunlight. In addition to these limitations, a solar powered vehicle requires a large surface area for solar panels and a heavy battery.