Turin, Italy - An UAV powered by solar panels and fuel cells (WAPA) - The Polytechnic of Turin is supporting an important and international project aimed to design a new type of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) plane, the so called Heliplat.

This innovative aircraft has as main feature the possibility to be powered by solar panels during the day, and fuel cells during the night, in this way turning out to be a fundamental discovery against the long-discussed polluting impact of Co2 emissions generated by planes.

According to the first data, Heliplat costs € 800-1000 per flight hour, has an autonomy of 4 months without stops, and is expected to be the optimal plane for surveillance missions. "However, there are many other possible usages: in the telephony sector and as 'Station' for communication activities performed by Civil Defence and Fire Brigade", affirmed the engineer Giulio Romeo, department of Aeronautics and Space engineering.

The HELIPLAT started in 1995 by the five years project by Italian Space Agency (ASI) in 1995-1999 period. The project has been financed from January 2000 to April 2003 by the European Commission, in the V Framework Program for developing an European project in the field of stratospheric platform, within the research project HELINET - Network of Stratospheric Platform for Trafffic Monitoring, Environmental Surveillance and broadband Service). (Avionews)