Sunlight-powered sustained flight of an ultralight micro aerial vehicle

Wei Shen, Jinzhe Peng, Rui Ma, Jiaqing Wu, Jingyi Li, Zhiwei Liu, Jiaming Leng, Xiaojun Yan () and Mingjing Qi ()
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Wei Shen: Beihang University
Jinzhe Peng: Beihang University
Rui Ma: Beihang University
Jiaqing Wu: Beihang University
Jingyi Li: Beihang University
Zhiwei Liu: Beihang University
Jiaming Leng: Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Aero-Engine
Xiaojun Yan: Beihang University
Mingjing Qi: Beihang University

Nature, 2024, vol. 631, issue 8021, 537-543

Abstract: Abstract Limited flight duration is a considerable obstacle to the widespread application of micro aerial vehicles (MAVs)1–3, especially for ultralightweight MAVs weighing less than 10 g, which, in general, have a flight endurance of no more than 10 min (refs. 1,4). Sunlight power5–7 is a potential alternative to improve the endurance of ultralight MAVs, but owing to the restricted payload capacity of the vehicle and low lift-to-power efficiency of traditional propulsion systems, previous studies have not achieved untethered sustained flight of MAVs fully powered by natural sunlight8,9. Here, to address these challenges, we introduce the CoulombFly, an electrostatic flyer consisting of an electrostatic-driven propulsion system with a high lift-to-power efficiency of 30.7 g W−1 and an ultralight kilovolt power system with a low power consumption of 0.568 W, to realize solar-powered sustained flight of an MAV under natural sunlight conditions (920 W m−2). The vehicle’s total mass is only 4.21 g, within 1/600 of the existing lightest sunlight-powered aerial vehicle6.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07609-4

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