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- EDWARDS AIR FORCE
BASE, Calif. (Reuters) - It creeps across the bright desert sky
as quiet as a ceiling fan. It carries no fuel, no pilot and is wider than
a jumbo jet's wingspan. In fact, that's all the Helios is -- a giant wing.
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- The Helios and other improbable flying machines were
touted by U.S. space agency NASA Wednesday as the future of telecommunications
and as valuable tools to help scientists crack mysteries in areas from
astronomy to meteorology.
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- ``It's a very unique group of aircraft,'' John Sharkey,
general manager of the program for NASA, said just before a Helios flight
demonstration. ``This is a good way for those who want to explore the commercialization
of these aircraft.''
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- Although the program's name -- Environmental Research
Aircraft Sensor Technology, or ERAST for short -- is clunky, the vehicles,
made by four private companies, are anything but.
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- Take the Helios: a remote-controlled glittering blade
of solar panels that will ultimately cruise 100,000 feet above the earth
for up to six months at a time. Or the Proteus, with two sets of wings
and striking, snake-like head.
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- There's also the Altus II, an unmanned drone that looks
like a beefed-up cruise missile, and the Perseus B, the most conventional-looking
of the planes except for its lack of windows and a pilot.
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- NASA is acting as a midwife, trying to help give birth
to new technologies it hopes will push the bounds of science. The companies
hope to pitch their crafts as cheap alternatives to their high-flying satellite
cousins.
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- For injecting cash into the companies -- Sharkey estimates
$22 million was earmarked for the project this year alone -- NASA will
get access to research tools with unprecedented flexibility.
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- Deployed high above the clouds, the aircraft could peer
into the heart of tropical storms, helping scientists better understand
them. Outfitted with powerful telescopes, a procession of airplanes might
be able to snap the first pictures of planets in other solar systems, Sharkey
said.
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- Ray Morgan, vice president of AeroVironment Inc., which
makes the Helios, envisions fleets of such craft circling major cities
carrying telecommunications gear to deliver high-speed wireless services
for a fraction of the cost of satellite systems.
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- Although his first commercial aircraft won't roll off
the assembly lines until at least 2003, Morgan says they will cost just
$3 million to $5 million each, compared to around $100 million to build
and launch a satellite.
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- ``The economics are fundamentally better because we can
go serve one local market and prove it out,'' Morgan said in a recent interview.
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- Robot airplanes flying at the edge of space may sound
like pie-in-the-sky to some, but the idea may gain favor after the spectacular
bankruptcy last month of Iridium Corp., which spent billions creating a
global satellite phone system.
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- ``A satellite is where it is, but a plane is where you
want it to be,'' said Tom Aboulafia, an analyst with aerospace research
firm The Teal Group.
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- At least one company is already trying to pitch the concept
to potential investors.
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- Angel Technologies Corp. has drawn up plans for a fast
wireless system that would be carried on the snake-like Proteus airplane
being developed by Scaled Composites Inc., a unit of casting firm Wyman-Gordon
.
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- Moreover, unlike satellites that go up and stay up, the
aircraft can be brought down for regular maintenance and be easily upgraded
with the latest technology.
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- Not all are convinced. Some are troubled by visions of
out-of-control planes plummeting toward a city, a scenario AeroVironment's
Morgan says is unlikely with his Helios.
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- Although the Helios flown Wednesday was battery-powered,
Morgan said it would soon be fitted with solar panels and will carry no
explosive fuel.
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- Aboulafia said it was too early to tell what potential
such craft held, adding he felt the biggest uses would be for spying and
surveying. ``NASA has a long and embattled history of thinking it has commercial
applications for its programs. I have the feeling that the market for this
is going to be 98 percent military and government,'' he said.
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