A team of participants from Rocket University is building a fuel cell-powered unmanned aerial vehicle and support systems to perform missions such as wildlife surveillance around the expansive Kennedy Space Center.
Michael Dupuis previously worked on the space shuttles’ fuel cell systems and is now leading the unmanned aerial systems group’s effort to develop a fuel cell-powered UAS. The basic goal is to build an airplane with a 9′ wingspan and a narrow fuselage that can pilot itself over the expansive launch site without jeopardizing the launch pads and other critical facilities such as the Vehicle Assembly Building.
The UAS will run on a fuel cell that uses hydrogen and collects oxygen from the air to produce electricity. “It’s still an electrical vehicle, but it has more endurance than battery-powered aircraft,” Dupuis said. The aircraft will carry a small camera and be able to capture precise images and statistics on the wildlife that live inside the center’s 140,000-acre wildlife refuge.
Rocket University’s UAS project must also take into consideration all aspects of the unmanned aircraft operation such as flight planning, data collection, recovery and contingencies for any possible failure of the remotely operated vehicle’s flight management and command and control systems.
To date, no unmanned aircraft has ever flown in the airspace above the Kennedy Space Center. So just getting Kennedy managers used to the idea of unmanned aircraft buzzing around one of America’s most sensitive installations is a challenge in and of itself.
Click the link below to read the article on Tampa’s Bay News 9 website…
Unmanned aircraft could fly over Kennedy Space Center
Rich Hanson
AMA Government and Regulatory Affairs