Impact of Solar Storms on High Altitude Long Endurance Aircraft and Airship Design and Operations

摘要

As unmanned aircraft and airships move increasingly into high altitude (50,000+ ft), endurance (24+ hr) roles, they will become vulnerable to the effects of space weather, specifically that of solar storms. Although solar storms are commonly associated with their impact on satellites, they affect the routing and timing of airline flights flying for 6 to 8 hr at 30,000 to 40,000 ft. Operating twice as high and with flight times twice as long (or longer) than those of airliners, high altitude long endurance (HALE) aircraft and airships occupy a middle zone of vulnerability, being more so than airliners but less so than satellites. A key difference however is that satellites are designed for space weather, whereas some current HALE vehicles are not. The purpose of this paper is to alert the UAV community to the potential hazards posed by solar storms, to familiarize it with the effects of solar storms and how to mitigate them, and to encourage research on solar storm effects on HALE aircraft and airships.