Fuel efficient spy drone for sale
While the U.S. military has several incarnations of airplane drones running on various alternative fuel sources, it's not something the average person, or even company, can go out and buy.
That might be changing.
BlueBird Aero Systems and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies announced Thursday that they've co-developed the Boomerang, the "world's first commercial fuel cell Unmanned Aerial System (UAS)."
So far the Boomerang only seems to have flight approval for Israel, but it's about to be unveiled next week at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference in Washington, D.C., which could garner it significantly more attention and interest.
The plane contains a 2kg hydrogen fuel cell power pack called the Aeropak made by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. The company claims it can provide 900Wh (Watt-hours) of power allowing the Boomerang to fly for over nine hours straight. In addition to supporting flight, the power pack can also support ancillary devices like electro-optical sensors, infrared cameras, and laser designators.
Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies is the same company that developed the power packs for the Hyfish fuel cell-powered "flying car" as well as a wide assortment of fuel cells for remote control cars and educational products.
This might be the first print ad ever for a fuel cell-powered UAS.
(Credit: BlueBird Aero Systems)
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. E-mail her at candacelombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. 
- by phred0 August 11, 2009 3:48 PM PDT
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