The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided to postpone a planned test flight of an unpiloted experimental aircraft for 24 hours due to high winds. “The jet stream is too strong and broad,” said Allen Brown, spokesman for the Dryden Flight Research Centre at California's Edwards Air Force base. It would have blown the aircraft off course. With an eye toward reaching new heights in sustained horizontal flight, NASA will try the test of its giant solar-powered wing, Helios, on Saturday, when the craft is expected to soar to at least 24,000 metre. “It's looking actually quite good for favorable weather conditions on the new test date,” Brown said. Helios is scheduled to take off from the navy pacific missile range facility on the Hawaiian island of Kauai for the 12-to-14-hour trial flight.
Eventually, researchers hope that the craft could reach heights of 30,000 metre -- the goal for a scheduled flight in late July -- but some feel it could surprise everyone and reach the record-breaking altitude during Saturday's test.
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“This will be a check-out flight, but it is entirely possible that if everything goes well, the aircraft could go higher than 80,000 feet (24,000 metres),” Brown said on Thursday.
The standing altitude record of more than 24,500 metre was set in Kauai in 1998 by pathfinder plus, a smaller version of Helios.
Bureau Report