While much of the nascent civilian unmanned aircraft industry looks at ways to optimize small unmanned aerial systems for specific tasks such facility security, infrastructure inspection, or precision agriculture, a New Mexico-based aerospace startup is thinking bigger and longer-term.眼下，当尚处襁褓中的民用无人机行业还在设法优化小型无人机（UAS），以实行设施安保、基础设施监控或精准农业之类的特定任务时，一家坐落于美国新墨西哥州的航空初创企业却已经有了更宏大、更长期的规划。Titan Aerospace, a one-year-old venture-backed aircraft designer, last week unveiled its Solara 50 and Solara 60 unmanned aircraft. These are two massive solar-powered, high-altitude vehicles the company plans to send aloft for weeks, months, and eventually years at a time without ever having to land.这家公司名叫“泰坦航空”（Titan Aerospace），是一家成立仅有一年、已获风投注资的航空器设计公司。它上周推出了两款无人机：Solara 50 和Solara 60。这是两架硕大无朋、靠太阳能驱动的高空飞机，这家公司计划让它们一次性升空后在空中巡航数周、数月直至数年，中途完全无须降落。Titan doesnt refer to these concept aircraft as drones or by the industry-preferred unmanned aerial system, but instead calls them atmospheric satellites for their ability to remain aloft for extended periods of time just as orbital satellites do. The company hopes to provide a sub-$2 million platform that governments, private industry, and research institutions can put high into the atmosphere for extended periods of time for a fraction of the cosplayt of a space satellite.泰坦并没把这类定义机叫“遥控无人机”（drone），也不需要这个行业所习称的“无人机系统”，而是叫它们“大方层卫星”。由于它们就像轨道卫星一样，能在空中长期巡航逗留。这家公司期望将这个价格不到200万USD的平台卖给政府、私营企业和研究机构，让它们仅需付出卫星本钱的九牛一毛，就能在大方层拥有我们的航天器。The idea is that an atmospheric satellite can conduct most of the same operations as an orbital one: atmospheric observation and weather monitoring, communications relay, oceanographic research, and earth imaging. Other operations are impractical for space satellites, such as border security, maritime traffic monitoring and anti-piracy operations, disaster response, or agricultural observation. And with continuous flight time of up to five years, Solaras aircraft would have endurance on par with many small satellites, making them a more attractive option for a range of these applications .这家企业的理念是，如此一台大方层卫星就能实行轨道卫星的绝大部分任务：大方观测和天气监测，通讯转播，海洋研究和地球成像。而它所能完成的其他任务则是空间卫星没有办法的，譬如边境安保、海上交通监控，打击海盗行动，灾害响应与农业观测。另外，Solara的续航时间长达五年，使用年限和不少小型卫星不相上下，使它们对上述应用来讲成了一个更具吸引力的选择（更别提假如传感器或是仪表坏了，还能让它们降落，然后重新发射升空）。If you have to go up to the satellite and rent that service, thats a lot of money, says Dustin Sanders, Titans chief electrical engineer. And launching a satellite, that can be in the billions of dollars. Were trying to do a single-million-dollar-per-aircraft platform. And the operation cosplayt is almost nothing -- youre paying some dude to watch the payload and make sure the aircraft doesnt do anything stupid.泰坦首席电气工程师达斯汀桑德斯说：“租用卫星服务要耗费巨资。发射卫星也会耗资数十亿USD。而大家要开发的是每台航空器仅百万USD级的平台，而且这个平台的运营本钱几乎为零——仅需花不多的钱就能知道实质载荷状况，确保这台无人机不会出问题。”Other long-endurance solar UAS concepts -- including Aerovironments Global Observer and QinetiQs Zephyr, a demonstrator for a Boeing concept -- have had little success in generating the kind of long-term atmospheric satellite Titan envisions, but the companys engineers think theyve worked around some of the thornier problems that have grounded previous efforts. For one, 160-foot-plus wingspans of the Solara 50 and Solara 60 will be covered edge-to-edge with advanced solar cell technology that will provide enough energy for both day and night flight with enough left over to power up to 70 pounds of sensors and instruments.而其他长航太阳能定义无人机——包含航空环境公司（Aerovironment）的“全球察看者”（Global Observer）和奎奈蒂克公司（一家英国国防科技公司——译注）为波音公司（Boeing）开发的展示定义机“西风”（Zephyr）——都没能造出泰坦设想的长寿命大方层卫星，但泰坦的工程师觉得他们已经基于以前的努力解决了一些棘手问题。譬如，Solara 50和Solara 60翼展长达160多英尺的机翼上密集覆盖着一流的太阳能电池板，它们提供的电力不只足够白天黑夜飞行所用（电池白天存储电力供晚上用），还足以供重达70磅的传感器和仪器用。But perhaps the most important part of the formula is not how it will fly, but where. To sustain such long flight durations, the aircraft will operate in an atmospheric sweet spot known as the tropopause, a zone at roughly 65,000 feet above sea level where winds are generally less than 5 knots. In this relative calm far above any turbulence or weather that would otherwise challenge its flight capabilities, Solara could linger for up to five years, Titan engineers say. It doesnt hurt that the tropopause resides far above the weather that can damage conventional aircraft or, more critically for Solara, block out the sun.不过最重要的或许不是它的飞行方法，而是它到底在什么地方飞。为了保持这么长的飞行时间，这种飞行器将在大方层的最好地方即所谓的对流层顶飞行。这个地区距海平面约65,000英尺（即12英里多），风速一般小于5节。泰坦的工程师称，这个空域相对平静，且远高于湍流或其他会干扰其飞行性能的恶劣天气，Solara可以在其中飞上五年之久。对流层顶下的天气会损毁一般飞行器，对Solara来讲更重要的还在于，它会遮蔽太阳，因此在远高于这种天气的对流层顶飞行Solara就不容易损毁。With rather simple mechanical systems and enough solar power to run them indefinitely, the thing limiting flight duration right now is the batteries themselves, Titan engineers say, which deteriorate over time and must be swapped out every few years. To prove it, the company has two fifth-scale test aircraft currently conducting test flights and -- pending a round of Series B funding -- will have a full-sized prototype in the air by spring or summer of next year.泰坦的工程师称，因为这种飞行器机械结构简单，同时还有足够的太阳能驱动它长期运行，因此目前限制飞行时长的原因就只有电池了。而电池会伴随时间推移而渐渐老化，每隔几年就需要更换。为了论证这个问题，公司目前用两架五分之一大小的试验机进行试飞——同时推迟了B轮筹资——到明年春天或夏天时才会让全尺寸机型上天。By the time the company delivers its first aircraft -- which could happen as soon as the end of next year -- solar cell and battery technology may have improved such that the aircraft can extend their flight durations or carry even more payload, Sanders says. Were focusing on the simplest, most lightweight solution for this and trying not to get overly complicated, he says. Thats really the key to keeping this thing affordable as well as to enable it to stay up there for years.桑德斯表示，到公司出货首架飞机时——最快要到明年年底——太阳能板和电池技术或许已大幅提升，可让飞机飞行时间更长或携带更大载荷。他说：“大家正为了这个目的致力于开发最简单、最轻量化的解决方法，同时努力防止过分复杂化。这才是让这款无人机物美价廉、同时可以不间断飞行数年的重要所在。”Of course much of Titans success, at least in the U.S., hinges on the FAA clearing the aircraft to fly in the national airspace. While rules governing UAS integration into the national airspace are pending , the rules attached to larger UAS like the planned Solara are expected to be fairly strict.当然，泰坦能否成功，至少在美国非常大程度上取决于联邦航空管理局（FAA）是不是允许这种飞行器在国家空域中飞行。现在允许无人机进入国家空域的管理规定还未颁布（有关规范将于2015年推出），针对像Solara如此大型无人机的管理规范应该会很严格。But Sanders and company arent particularly worried. Titan has been working closely with the FAA through its design process, and anyhow the only part of that multi-year duration the FAA is technically concerned with is the initial climb. Class A airspace ends at 60,000 feet in the U.S.; above that the FAA doesnt regulate, Sanders says .不过桑德斯及公司对此并不如何担忧，由于在该机型的设计研发全程中泰坦都与联邦航空管理局维持着密符合作。而从技术上说，虽然这个机型的飞行寿命长达数年，但联邦航空管理局真的关心的只不过其刚开始爬升的那一段。桑德斯称，美国的A级空域最高到60,000英尺为止，超越高度就不是联邦航空管理局管辖的范围了（这个高度大概是民用飞机飞行高度的两倍）。But while fitting into the existing flight paradigm is necessary, thats not really the driving idea behind Titan, Sanders says of the young startup . Thats why the company refers to its products as atmospheric satellites rather than UAS. In a way, Titan is trying to hack the UAS and satellite space by providing something radically different and far more accessible than whats already out there.桑德斯说到这家年轻的公司（桑德斯32岁，开创者兼首席技术官马克斯雅尼35岁左右，首席运营官尼克雷诺德只有24岁）时表示，尽管符合现行飞行管理规定势在必行，但这不是泰坦公司真的的动力所在。这就是为何公司称其商品为大方层卫星而不是无人机的原故。在某种程度上，泰坦是要拿出一种完全不同、比现有商品更容易用的商品来冲击无人机和卫星范围。We dont want any operating cosplayts, we dont want you to spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars just to get the stupid thing certified all the time, Sanders says.桑德斯说：“大家不期望它带来任何运行本钱，不想顾客为了让一台不像样的飞行器获准飞行而不停地大笔烧钱。”We want something very simple and that doesnt take up all of your time and energy to keep it running. If all you need is one person to keep an eye on the aircraft, that completely changes things. Were trying to change the mindset on how aircraft should operate.“大家想塑造一台很简单的商品，它能持续飞行，不需要占用顾客很多时间和精力。假如仅需有一个人监控飞行器，那就会让局面彻底改观。大家是要努力改变大伙对飞行器运行方法的常见怎么看。”
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