A father-son engineering team, renowned for building the world’s fastest quadcopters, has successfully created and flown a drone that operates entirely on solar power, without any onboard batteries. This experimental aircraft uses a wide array of fragile solar panels mounted to a lightweight frame to draw power directly from the sun. The innovative project follows the team’s recent achievement of reclaiming the Guinness World Record for the fastest remote-controlled quadcopter, which they secured with a blistering official speed of 570 km/h in Dubai.
The primary goal of the project, led by Luke and Mike Bell, was to engineer a multi-rotor drone capable of sustained flight as long as sunlight was available, completely bypassing the need for energy storage. While other solar-powered drone concepts typically use solar cells to recharge an onboard battery, the Bells’ design eliminates the battery entirely. Power is generated by the solar panels and sent directly to the motors, making the drone’s flight immediately dependent on the intensity of the sunlight.
The drone was constructed using a carbon fiber X-frame, lightweight Antigravity motors, and 46-centimeter (18-inch) carbon fiber propellers. The power source consists of 27 delicate solar panels connected in series, which produced approximately 150 watts during ground-based testing. These panels were affixed to a custom support structure and mounted atop the drone. After careful assembly, the team successfully conducted the drone’s first real-world flight in an open field, powered exclusively by the sun.
This foray into battery-free flight comes as the Bells celebrate reclaiming a prestigious speed record. After their Peregreen 2 drone’s record of 480 km/h (nearly 300 mph) was surpassed, they developed the Peregreen 3. This new model achieved a peak speed of 585 km/h (363 mph) and set a new official Guinness World Record with an average speed of 570 km/h (approximately 354 mph), decisively beating the previous record of 557.64 km/h (346.5 mph).
While the solar drone is currently a proof-of-concept rather than a practical commercial device, it stands as a fascinating engineering accomplishment. It explores the potential for direct solar flight in small aircraft and, given the creators’ history of rapid innovation, it may serve as a foundation for more advanced versions in the future.