{"id":290679,"date":"2025-08-21T09:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T13:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/noticias\/skydweller-and-u-s-navy-successfully-complete-73-hour-continuous-solar-flight\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T15:15:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:15:06","slug":"skydweller-and-u-s-navy-successfully-complete-73-hour-continuous-solar-flight","status":"publish","type":"noticias","link":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/news\/skydweller-and-u-s-navy-successfully-complete-73-hour-continuous-solar-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Skydweller and U.S. Navy successfully complete 73-hour continuous solar flight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In an unprecedented display of technological advancement, Skydweller Aero and the U.S. Navy managed to complete a 73-hour continuous flight powered exclusively by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/news\/hornet-solars-solar-energy-project-to-boost-texas-renewable-energy\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/noticias\/el-proyecto-de-energia-solar-de-hornet-solar\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">solar energy<\/a><\/strong>. The drone took off from Stennis International Airport in Mississippi and remained airborne for three days without refueling. <\/p>\n\n<p>With a wingspan of 72 meters and 17,000 solar cells, the aircraft proved capable of maintaining a positive energy balance, operating autonomously in real-world atmospheric conditions and transmitting critical data continuously. This combination makes the Skydweller a highly viable platform for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/articulo\/impact-of-ai-on-strategic-foresight\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/articulo\/impacto-de-la-ia-en-prospectiva-estrategica\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR)<\/a><\/strong>surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) tasks. <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Solar flight for persistent surveillance in maritime environments<\/h2>\n\n<p>The Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWCAD), in charge of leading the collaboration, highlighted the operational value of this type of solution to strengthen the Navy&#8217;s ISR architecture. Thanks to its autonomy, the UAS allows it to cover large ocean areas for long periods, freeing other platforms for specialized tasks. <\/p>\n\n<p>Bill Macchione, UAS program leader at NAWCAD, highlighted that the integration of Skydweller into the naval surveillance system creates a more robust and resilient network, with less reliance on refueling and logistics.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Future missions and strategic applications<\/h2>\n\n<p>The Navy <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.navair.navy.mil\/news\/Navy-demonstrates-multi-day-solar-UAS-flight\/Tue-07292025-1554\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.navair.navy.mil\/news\/Navy-demonstrates-multi-day-solar-UAS-flight\/Tue-07292025-1554\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">began testing the system in 2020<\/a><\/strong> as part of its operations in the Southern Command&#8217;s area of responsibility, with a focus on maritime <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/news\/robosys-automation-implements-advanced-maritime-autonomy-for-usv\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/noticias\/robosys-autonomia-maritima-avanzada-para-usv\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">maritime security<\/a><\/strong>border control and counter-narcotics. Further testing is expected by the end of the summer. <\/p>\n\n<p>Skydweller Aero, headquartered in Oklahoma with R&amp;D centers in Spain and Mississippi, is consolidating its position as a leader in electric aviation. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/video-tv\/avion-electrico-solar-rompe-record-9521m\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/video-tv\/avion-electrico-solar-rompe-record-9521m\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">electric aviation<\/a><\/strong> aviation. Its aircraft are designed <strong>to stay in flight for weeks or even months<\/strong>, with zero emissions and reduced operating costs. <\/p>\n\n<p>The success of this flight reinforces the potential of solar-powered <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/news\/solarstratos-pushes-solar-aviation-to-new-limits\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/noticias\/vuelo-record-de-solarstratos-9-521-metros\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">solar-powered aircraft<\/a><\/strong> as strategic surveillance and response elements in increasingly complex scenarios.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Source and photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skydweller.aero\/news\/u-s-navy-and-skydweller-aero-achieve-breakthrough-in-multi-day-solar-flight\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.skydweller.aero\/news\/u-s-navy-and-skydweller-aero-achieve-breakthrough-in-multi-day-solar-flight\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Skydweller<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Skydweller demonstrated 73 hours of air endurance, extending the Navy&#8217;s operational range for ISR missions over extended maritime areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9014,"featured_media":290459,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categoria_noticias":[13064,13030],"etiqueta_noticias":[],"class_list":["post-290679","noticias","type-noticias","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categoria_noticias-aerospace","categoria_noticias-industry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/290679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/noticias"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9014"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/290679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categoria_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categoria_noticias?post=290679"},{"taxonomy":"etiqueta_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/etiqueta_noticias?post=290679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}