Drone aircraft lands on roof of car travelling at 75kph

Scientists and researchers around the world are hard at work on drone aircraft for all sorts of uses. Researchers at the German Aerospace Center recently performed a successful landing of a small ultralight autonomous drone on the roof of a car while the drone and car were travelling at 75 km per hour.

The system is designed for civil applications in the fields of remote sensing and communication. The landing process the team is working on could be used by ultralight solar-powered aircraft that complement satellites by flying in the stratosphere. In a disaster, this type of drone could provide live situation reports, replace communication networks, and provide data on climate change.

The small ultra light aircraft the team has designed are able to fly at altitudes over 20 kilometers and stay in the air for several weeks. Lightweight is a crucial aspect for long-duration flights. The team says that eliminating the landing gear normally used on a drone significantly increases the payload capacity of the solar-powered aircraft.

Removing the landing gear and having the drone land on the roof net of a moving car also makes landings in bad weather easier to accomplish. Some of the reinforcements in the airframe of the drones needed to support landing gear were also removed further decreasing weight. When the vehicle and the drone are travelling at the same speed the landing takes on aspects of a helicopter landing.

SOURCE: DLR