Solar-powered,remotely piloted, and flying at about 25 miles per hour,NASA's Heliosaircraft, i picturedabove at 10,000 feet in skies northwest of Kauai, Hawaii on August 13.This ultralight propeller driven aircraft, essentially a flying wingwith 14 electric engines, was built b AeroVironment Inc.Covered with solar cells, Helios' impressive 247 foot wide wingexceeds the wing span and even overall length of Boeing747 jet airliner.Climbing during daylight hours, the prototype aircraf ultimatelyreached an altitude just short of 100,000 feet,breaking records for non-rocket powere flight.Helios is intended as a technology demonstrator, butregular, long-duration flights at that altitudecould be used for environmental monitoringmissions and, communications relays.In the extremely thin air 100,000 feet above Earth's surface, the flightof Helios als simulatesconditions fo wingedflight in th atmosphereof Mars.
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