Abstract
The Solarcopter proof of concept demonstrated the world's first purely solar-powered rotary-wing aircraft to fly, highlighting the feasibility of powering a rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) exclusively by solar power. Absolutely no form of energy storage was utilised on this UAV prototype in any way. The novelties of the presented prototype include the exclusion of energy storage, utilising the central surface area of a quadrotor setup to maximise solar panel performance, and employing an ultra-lightweight, rigid, space frame structure. These key factors enabled the thrust-to-weight ratio of the presented prototype to be substantially greater than unity making the concept capable of continuous flight beyond the ground effect, provided sufficient solar energy is available. The presented concept and design was successfully validated with flight tests conducted in real-world conditions. The calculations and conclusions presented in the comments regarding the flight capability of the Solarcopter are premised on use of the Medusa 4000 rather than the Turnigy 800 motor that was implemented on the Solarcopter prototype. It is therefore unsurprising that the authors of the comments were unable to replicate the results presented for the Solarcopter.
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