Helios Flapped, Then Snapped | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-11.17.25

AirborneNextGen-
11.11.25

Airborne-Unlimited-11.12.25

Airborne-FltTraining-11.13.25

AirborneUnlimited-11.14.25

LIVE MOSAIC Town Hall (Archived): www.airborne-live.net

Thu, Jul 03, 2003

Helios Flapped, Then Snapped

The loss of the world's highest-flying winged vehicle, NASA's Helios, a week ago still has project members wondering.

A helicopter chase ship, we have learned, reported seeing the wings start to oscillate, and that motion grew to a "flap," while the 247-foot wing was at only 3000 feet. Shortly thereafter, the huge, record-setting, yet necessarily flimsy machine gave up its constituent parts and fell into a mile-deep section of the Pacific.

Most of the machine, including hydrogen tanks (the testing of alternate-power fuel cells was underway), has been recovered. The most-expensive components -- $10 million or so of solar cells -- are either at the ocean bottom, or ruined: salt water makes them useless.

FMI: www.dfrc.nasa.gov

Advertisement

More News

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (11.18.25)

“Setting eight speed records this quickly following its August entry into service is a powerful testament to the tremendous capabilities of this aircraft. We are already seei>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (11.18.25): On-Course Indication

On-Course Indication An indication on an instrument, which provides the pilot a visual means of determining that the aircraft is located on the centerline of a given navigational t>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (11.18.25)

Aero Linx: WW1 Aeroplanes, Inc. WORLD WAR 1 AEROPLANES was founded by Leo Opdycke in 1961 and incorporated as a federally recognized 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation in 1979,>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Shoemaker Ronald R Pazmany PL-2

Pilot Reported That He Purchased The Airplane Earlier That Day Analysis: The pilot reported that he purchased the airplane earlier that day and completed a condition inspection tha>[...]

Airborne-NextGen 11.18.25: Dream Chaser Preps, Joby eTurbine, UAE Flt Test

Also: Abu Dhabi’s 1st Vertiport Network, Anduril-EDGE Partner, Vertical Permit/eVTOL Regs Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane has cleared another round of pre-flight>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC