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Título
On the capabilities and limitations of high altitude pseudo-satellites
Autor
Facultad/Centro
Área de conocimiento
Título de la revista
Progress in Aerospace Sciences
Datos de la obra
Gonzalo, J., López, D., Domínguez, D., García, A., & Escapa, A. (2018). On the capabilities and limitations of high altitude pseudo-satellites. Progress in Aerospace Sciences, 98, 37-56.
Editor
Elsevier
Fecha
2018-04
ISSN
0376-0421
Resumo
[EN] The idea of self-sustaining air vehicles that excited engineers in the seventies has nowadays become a reality as proved by several initiatives worldwide. High altitude platforms, or Pseudo-satellites (HAPS), are unmanned vehicles that take advantage of weak stratospheric winds and solar energy to operate without interfering with current commercial aviation and with enough endurance to provide long-term services as satellites do. Target applications are communications, Earth observation, positioning and science among others. This paper reviews the major characteristics of stratospheric flight, where airplanes and airships will compete for best performance. The careful analysis of involved technologies and their trends allow budget models to shed light on the capabilities and limitations of each solution. Aerodynamics and aerostatics, structures and materials, propulsion, energy management, thermal control, flight management and ground infrastructures are the critical elements revisited to assess current status and expected short-term evolutions. Stratospheric airplanes require very light wing loading, which has been demonstrated to be feasible but currently limits their payload mass to few tenths of kilograms. On the other hand, airships need to be large and operationally complex but their potential to hover carrying hundreds of kilograms with reasonable power supply make them true pseudo-satellites with enormous commercial interest. This paper provides useful information on the relative importance of the technology evolutions, as well as on the selection of the proper platform for each application or set of payload requirements. The authors envisage prompt availability of both types of HAPS, aerodynamic and aerostatic, providing unprecedented services.
Materia
Palabras clave
Peer review
SI
ID proyecto
- AO 1–8464/15/NL/GLC
URI
DOI
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