Pseudo-satellites are able to fly, remotely-controlled or autonomously, at high altitudes for long periods of time – often months. Such aircraft can fly above commercial aircraft routes, and above turbulence and moisture. Complementing conventional satellites, pseudo-satellites can be used for earth mapping, scientific observation and intelligence gathering.
The 15-m long Phoenix spends half its time as a heavier-than-air aeroplane and the other as a lighter-than-air helium balloon. Repeated transition between these two states provides its sole source of propulsion.
Phoenix has been developed by a consortium of industrial partners, universities and members of the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult. The latter included the MTC's advanced production systems group, the National Composites Centre and the Centre for Process Innovation. Academic partners included the University of Bristol, Newcastle University and the University of the Highlands and Islands, while among industrial partners were Banks Sails, Stirling Dynamics, IQE and TCS Micropumps.
MTC engineers made extensive use of National Instruments' hardware and software suites to build, program and test the aircraft's control system, including hardware-in-the-loop tests of the autonomous pilot system developed by Stirling Dynamics. The MTC has also provided testing facilities and expertise for hardware components, such as pumps and actuators provided by TCS Mircropumps. In addition, support was provided to the flight trials, including assembly, piloting and testing.
MTC technology director Ken Young says the Innovate UK-funded Phoenix project has proved to be an exciting collaborative venture at the cutting edge of aerospace technology: “Variable-buoyancy propulsion technology has been used before for remote controlled underwater vehicles but never for the propulsion of a large aircraft. The power for moving the flight-control surfaces, and the valves and pumps, comes from a battery charged by an array of lightweight, flexible solar cells.
"The technology involved in this project is truly cutting edge and has the potential to take the UK into the lead when it comes to this kind of innovation."
