Astro Flight
Encyclopedia
Marina del Rey, California
-Demographics:-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Marina del Rey had a population of 8,866. The population density was 6,094.6 people per square mile...
, USA.
Early history
The company was founded in 1969 by Bob Boucher and Roland Boucher. Their goal was the development and production of a high-performance radio controlled sailplane for use in AMAAcademy of Model Aeronautics
The Academy of Model Aeronautics, based in Muncie, Indiana, USA, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of model aviation as a recognized sport as well as a recreational activity. It is the largest organization of its kind with a current membership of more than 170,000...
-certified competition. That first sailplane, the "Malibu," finished third in its very first outing in San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
that same year. Bob Boucher would use a Malibu in 1970 to set a closed-course world record for soaring
Lift (soaring)
Gliding flight is heavier-than-air flight without the use of thrust. It is employed by gliding animals and by aircraft such as gliders. The most common human application of gliding flight is in sport and recreation using aircraft designed for this purpose...
. His record flight of 302 km took place at Waimanelo, Hawaii. The introduction of the Fournier RF-4 electric R/C airplane in 1971 marked the debut of the world's first practical electric-powered model airplane. This would be the model which Roland Boucher would use to set a world record for duration and distance with a flight of one hour and a distance of 29 miles (46.7 km) on a single charge. Since no official categories for electric flight existed at the time, neither the AMA nor the FAI
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
recognized the record.
The Northrop Corporation
Northrop Corporation
Northrop Corporation was a leading United States aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman in 1994. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, although only a few of these have entered service.-History:Jack...
awarded Astro Flight a contract in 1972 to develop a low- altitude electric surveillance drone. Project manager Bob Boucher along with Roland Boucher and their lone employee Dave Shadel finished the design in only six months. The result was the Model 7212 flying wing
Flying wing
A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft which has no definite fuselage, with most of the crew, payload and equipment being housed inside the main wing structure....
. With a wingspan of 8', the 7212 was powered by three of the company's Astro 40 ferrite
Ferrite (magnet)
Ferrites are chemical compounds consisting of ceramic materials with iron oxide as their principal component. Many of them are magnetic materials and they are used to make permanent magnets, ferrite cores for transformers, and in various other applications.Many ferrites are spinels with the...
motors each turning a three-blade, 8x8 propeller. The 7212 would set another unofficial record in August 1973 by carrying a 7.5 pound lead payload over a closed course for an hour and twenty minutes at speeds reaching 75 mi/h.
The world's first solar-powered airplane
Astro Flight was awarded a DARPA contract through LockheedLockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
in 1974 in order to build the Sunrise
AstroFlight Sunrise
The AstroFlight Sunrise was an unmanned experimental electric aircraft technology demonstrator and the first aircraft to fly on solar power....
, the world's first solar-powered airplane. The historic flight, powered only by sunlight, took place November 4, 1974 at Fort Irwin, California. Two Astro Flight Astro 40 ferrite motors powered the craft via a 6:1 gearbox swinging a 36x24 wood propeller. More than one thousand solar cell
Solar cell
A solar cell is a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect....
s on the wing were the sole source of energy, producing roughly 450 watts of power. The craft, weighing in at 27 pounds with its 32' wingspan, had a service ceiling of 20000 feet (6,096 m) depending on available sunlight. 1975 saw both the departure of Roland Boucher and damage to Sunrise I in a windstorm. It also saw the introduction of the improved Sunrise II
AstroFlight Sunrise
The AstroFlight Sunrise was an unmanned experimental electric aircraft technology demonstrator and the first aircraft to fly on solar power....
, built in just three months. Its maiden flight was on September 27, 1975 at Nellis AFB. Improvements included a single Astro Flight Cobalt
Cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal....
40 motor powered by 4480 solar cells with an output of 600 watts. Climb rate was drastically improved at over 300 feet (91.4 m) per minute as was the estimated service ceiling of 75000 feet (22,860 m), although actual flights did not exceed 20000 feet (6,096 m) due to problems with both command and control.
The world's first human-carrying solar-powered airplane
DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
sponsored Dr. Paul MacCready
Paul MacCready
Paul B. MacCready, Jr. was an American aeronautical engineer. He was the founder of AeroVironment and the designer of the human-powered aircraft that won the Kremer prize...
in his attempt to create a solar powered plane capable of carrying a human. The result was the Gossamer Penguin
Gossamer Penguin
|-References:...
which had its first flight on May 16, 1980 in Shafter, California
Shafter, California
Shafter is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is located west-northwest of Bakersfield. The population was 16,988 at the 2010 census, up from 12,736 at the 2000 census. Wired telephone numbers in Shafter follow the format 746-xxxx and the ZIP Code is 93263.The city is located...
. It utilized the 600 watt solar panel used to power Sunrise II along with a production version Cobalt 40 motor. Thrust was via a three-stage transmission turning an 11' propeller at 120 rpm. Motor speed was 15,000 rpm. The success of Gossamer Penguin prompted DuPont to agree to sponsor a solar plane capable of crossing the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. The Dupont Solar Challenger
Solar Challenger
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required three months to build the solar panels with their 16,128 cells. The setup was capable of 4000 watts at operating altitude and 2500 watts at sea level. A 3.5 hp motor, specially designed for the project, turned 9000 rpm through a 22:1 belt-drive reduction unit, resulting in a propeller speed of about 400 rpm.
On July 7, 1981, pilot Steve Ptacek piloted the Dupont Solar Challenger from Pontoise, France to the Manston
RAF Manston
RAF Manston was an RAF station in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site is now split between a commercial airport Kent International Airport and a continuing military use by the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre , following on from a long...
RAF base in Kent, England.
Today, Astro Flight continues to provide hobbyists with motors, battery chargers and electronic speed control
Electronic speed control
An electronic speed control or ESC is an electronic circuit with the purpose to vary an electric motor's speed, its direction and possibly also to act as a dynamic brake...
s. Their model 4005 AC/DC battery charger, introduced in 1982 at the Toledo R/C Show
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
became an industry standard, with more than 500,000 units produced over the next decade. They serve industrial customers with custom-made brushless motors. Their Astro Model 300 ten-horsepower DC motor is the same one used in the GM Sunracer experimental solar powered automobile.