Collaboration set to design motors for giant solar aircraft

The team secured the latest contract after its successful demonstration of the Zephyr solar aircraft, which last year achieved a record-breaking two-week, non-stop flight.

Boeing’s SolarEagle, which will have a wingspan of 120m, will take this a step further by aiming to remain in the air continuously for five years while feeding back data from the skies.

Flying at a height of more than 60,000ft in temperatures below -60°C, the project will present significant challenges for the team, but Prof Barrie Mecrow of Newcastle said they will take some lessons from Zephyr.

‘We learned how to operate these machines at very low temperatures and to cope with things you perhaps initially don’t expect — for example, where you have bearings, the grease in the bearing goes solid.

‘Also with the electronics, we not only have to worry about the large components, we have to think about power used by the microprocessor for example, which uses one and a half watts.’