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- A solution at altitude: pseudo-satellites will give away internet in remote villages
A solution at altitude: pseudo-satellites will give away internet in remote villages
Russia has started to develop pseudo-satellites - stratospheric unmanned airplanes, which are similar in function to spacecraft placed in orbit, but operate at a lower altitude. Therefore, their launch and operation are much cheaper. Such systems allow to locally provide communication, navigation and Internet at temporary sites remote from the infrastructure - in shift camps, field scientific or search and rescue expeditions. At the moment, specialists are preparing a 1:5 scale demonstrator of the technology. Experts noted the variety of tasks for the vehicles, but for their successful commercial operation the developers need to find the right economic niche.
What are pseudo-satellites
Russia has started to create the first domestic pseudo-satellite. This is a class of drones that are designed to operate for long periods of time at high altitudes. The project is implemented by a domestic startup team that specializes in space technologies.
As explained by the developers, pseudo-satellites are systems that are similar in their tasks to the vehicles operating in Earth orbits, but they are launched much lower - in the stratosphere - at an altitude of about 18-25kilometers. Therefore, the cost of their launch and operation is several orders of magnitude lower than that of spacecraft. However, the area that stratospheric vehicles provide coverage is much smaller than that of satellites.
- The development is an unmanned aircraft of the airplane type. It is designed to fly non-stop for a month or more. The pseudo-satellite is equipped with four electric motors that utilize solar energy. Solar batteries are installed on the upper surface of the wing, due to which the drone in flight will store energy during the day and spend it at night, - told "Izvestia" project manager, executive director of the company "Stratolink" Nicholas Oxman.
According to the project, the mass of the stratospheric drone will be 315 kg, and the wingspan will be 40 meters. It will be able to barrage over a given area at a speed of 120-140 km / h. The drone will be controlled by an onboard computer equipped with artificial intelligence. The task of the control device is entered on the eve of the flight. In addition, the possibility of its adjustment during barrage and remote control of the device by the operator from the ground will be realized.
Innovations in engine design
According to the designers, the development involves four electric motors with a capacity of 7.4 kW. They are installed two by two in the nacelles on the left and right wing consoles, which allows to reduce takeoff weight by halving the engine compartments.
In this case, the propellers of paired propulsion systems are placed against each other: one - in the front, the other - in the rear part of the bearing surface. Propellers will spin in opposite directions, which will help the drone to compensate for the reactive moment of the propeller - a force that tends to tilt or turn the aircraft. Also, the proposed configuration will provide a stable flight of stratospheric aircraft in a rarefied air environment.
Power plant
The propeller blades are designed according to the principle of a variable pitch motor. It consists in the ability to control the angle of inclination of the blades. As a result, the on-board computer can automatically adjust the pitch of the propeller, adapting the operation of the engines to the flight conditions. This mechanism increases the efficiency of the propeller motor group. In addition, the blades and other structural components of the propeller will be equipped with heating modules, which will eliminate their icing.
- The pseudo-satellite will be able to carry a payload of up to 40 kg. In particular, its front part will house an optical module with a rotating platform designed to install devices for observation and remote sensing of the earth, such ascameras, spectrometers, range finders and similar instruments. The internal compartment in the drone's body can accommodate various telecommunication equipment depending on the mission of the drone," explained Nicholas Oxman.
For example, pseudo-satellites can be used to quickly deploy temporary communication and Internet networks in disaster zones or rescue operations. The devices will also help to efficiently distribute the Internet of Things at sites remote from the central infrastructure, such as shift work camps or scientific field expeditions.
Telecommunication equipment
Another important area where stratospheric aircraft will be useful is providing communication and control for industries without human involvement, such as machines that will be able to independently cultivate agricultural land or extract minerals from quarries.
At the moment, said Nicholas Oxman, engineers have started building two stratospheric airplanes - technology demonstrators. They will be made in 1:5 scale. It is assumed that the experimental operation of products will start in late 2025-early2026. These copies will help to check the characteristics of the project and make possible changes in the design, after which the full-size aircraft will be launched in the series.
What tasks stratospheric airplanes will be able to perform
- Remote sensing of the Earth may become an actual direction for stratospheric UAVs. In particular, deployment of multispectral and radar imaging equipment on board will make it possible to monitor forest fires, detect underground peat fires, monitor the state of ice and migration of fish schools in the Arctic, as well as many other diverse tasks," commented Ruslan Brezhnev, head of the scientific and educational laboratory of information support for space monitoring at the Institute of Space and Information Technologies of the Siberian Federal University.
At the same time, according to the scientist, the problems in the implementation of this kind of vehicles are seen in the lack of trained personnel for their operation, ground maintenance and management. In addition, there will be difficulties due to the need to share with manned aviation use of runways in airfields. Also, due to the highly bureaucratized nature of the industry, it will not be easy to obtain permission to fly.
-In the past decade, various stratospheric projects to provide Internet access and other tasks were being worked on by the world's leading technology giants, suchas Google (Loon balloons), Facebook* (Aquila drones) (* owned by Meta Corporation, recognized as an extremist organization in Russia). This was even before the Starlink era, and amid the boom in Internet services, companies were looking for possible technological solutions to meet the demand for broadband access in remote areas. All these projects, however, were closed, primarily for economic reasons: none of them found an effective business model, - said Andrei Ionin, Advisor to the General Director of Geoscan Group of Companies.
And today, the expert believes, the issue of deployment of such systems lies solely in the plane of economic efficiency. If the project proposed by a Russian startup finds its niche, its client, it may succeed.
