Solar-powered aircraft are electric aircraft that can be an airplane, blimp, or airship and use either a battery or hydrogen to store the energy produced by the solar cells and use that energy at night when the sun isn't shining.
Solar-powered aircraft do not require fuel, so they don't require oxygen, and they are able to operate at altitudes over 20km (10miles) to 100km (100miles) for months at a time.[1] [2]
Conventional passenger or cargo aircraft usages aren't practical yet with modern technology, but high-altitude platform stations and long-endurance missions over a fixed location with unmanned aircraft or airships are feasible. Thus solar-powered aircraft could be used in telecommunications, video/imagery, flight control by transporting airport surveillance radars, in precipitation detection by transporting weather radars, geopositioning Global Positioning Systems (GPS),[3] and other pseudo satellite[4] applications that transpond the data with ground stations.
This list is non-exhaustive.
Solar Airship One is being developed by Euro Airship and is planning to launch a would tour in 2026 and fly by 25 countries in 20 days as it travels around the world non-stop.
It will be autonomous and use electrolysis to store hydrogen to keep moving at night when the sun isn't shining.[11]