@kibets: Settle down there sir. Really not necessary to get so heated over a spelling error. Perhaps you might want to take about ten deep breaths and maybe a cup of juice and get back to us?

qbrad

This might not be as far-fetched as it sounds. NASA's Helios was moving towards overnight flights thanks to battery backups before it crashed, and that was a few years ago. It certainly didn't have problems with the high-altitude winds. I suspect with improved solar cells, the real issue in this project will be extending the lifetime of the mechanical components.

Richard Garfinkel

@kibets: eye thig hiss pozt ar prety gud, sow dun tripp.

johnnyabnormal

@kibets: the posts wont be worthless, especially if you can figure out what the words supposed to be. This comment and your comment are worth less the the post, yours a bit less then mine of course.

paul

get a spell checker SEAN FALLON else your posts will be deemed worthless.

kibets

I want to meet this Darpa. He/she seems to have deep pockets.

SchruteBuck

@Kaiser-Machead: Or death-seeking douche-ray...

Mandatory_Field

@digitalhecht: Agreed. Kaiser Machead approves of douche-seeking death ray.

Kaiser-Machead

who cares, we'll probably end up blowing it up anyway somehow

Sheemo44

@digitalhecht: I get the feeling that guys in a shit load of shit, theirs alot of pissed off people about that video and it's spreading like a wild fire.

Jericho114

We need use it to babysit our own troops and keep them from playing shotput with puppies and other douche bag antics.

digitalhecht

@wanago: for a very, very long time apperently too,probably will be hit by the huge gamma ray

takemetoyourtoaster

@wanago: even so, it tastes good biatch!

discounteggroll

Conract is what you say when you've had too much tequila.

I think high winds may be the nemisis. Oh, and that ground to air missile.

thebear91

I won a conract one time, ...meh, it was OK.

If you fix that typo, that's it, it's on.

MagnoliaBoy

It will still lose your luggage

wanago

@takemetoyourtoaster: If we launch a zillion of them and make them with lead they will protect us from the gamma rays!

GiltProto

@Zodiack: Because six years is just unreasonable.

craig

And the purpose of a plane being airborne for 5 years at-a-time is?

Zodiack

Imagine this thing coming down to visit you in your lovely garden while relaxing and licking the sun....

Soon you will be licking hot-burning-plastic..

JoOngle

Not to mention it will have to be so light & flimsy as to make it fatally vulnerable to a well-aimed Rosie O'Donnell Fart.

spaceman7

@Zodiack: park one over a country, use it to intercept trafic. what better way for nsa to steal other government secrets :P

detraya

@craig:
LOL!

But seriously, I doubt this will happen. Sure they can come up with a plane that will "theoretically" be able to stay up for 5 years on an ideal planet with ideal weather conditions. But actual weather events on actual Earth will actually mean that it will have to be landed and hangered from time to time.

Serolf Divad

That thing falls in my yard and it's MINE!!

strider_mt2k

Screw the spook work. This could offer a viable way to break the horrible cellular carrier oligopoly in Canada. New entrants would be able to deploy network far cheaper than raising towers.

Jason

I don't know about you, but I keep thinking of SHIELD's helicarrier.

cayton

Ok GREAT...but when are we building the starship Enterprise?

Daimyo Nintendo

Great! Now we will have a technology that can follow Brittney Spears or Paris Hilton without screwing up local traffic!

Skeptical_Geezer

Maybe if these become reality, Google will deploy free nationwide wifi with these things.

Navin R Johnson

This tech. has already been proven in such harsh conditions with standard aircraft materials like carbon fiber. Additionally, stonger/lighter fibers have been since developed. As for attack - who cares most of the expense in an aircraft is in crew support. This design is a UAV, and a highly disposable one. With regard to the anti-aircraft batteries, those that can reach the 90kft range also happen to carry tracking systems advanced enough to defeat even the most advanced fighters. 5yr flight plans have been proven by spacecraft that regularly charge using solar cells and then run on batteries for extended periods. Charge and run with solar by day - battery by night. As for the cellular phone concept; absolutely - the developers of the Helios actually mentioned just such an idea as one of their original concepts.

jtowntex

that picture looks amazing, i wonder what the final product (if there ever is one) will look like.

Agretch