Photos: Solar-powered UAV flies and flies

The official FAI world record for unmanned flight is 30 hours, 24 minutes, according to Qinetiq. It was set in March 2001 by Northrop Grumman's RQ-4A Global Hawk--a substantially bigger aircraft. The Global Hawk has a 130-foot wingspan and weighs more than 32,000 pounds. Northrop Grumman says the various generations of the aircraft have logged 10,000-plus combat flight hours.

Photo by Northrop Grumman

Caption by Jonathan Skillings