Solar Powered Plane

[jeff88]

I've heard of these types of planes before, but I thought this was interesting.

Solar-Powered Flight!

What do you guys think of the aerodynamics of this plane? Would a fixed-wing shaped plane like a B2 bomber or Boeing X-48 be better?

[gone-ot]

1) With SOLAR power, huge amounts of (wing) surface area are important for gathering/generating electrical power.

2) At the airspeeds that plane "loiters" along at, highly swept-back wings, ala' B2, are of absolutely NO use.

3) Basically, it's a sun-powered GLIDER, so long, thin wings are appropriate.