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Centurion Photo Gallery Contact Sheet Centurion Photo Gallery Contact Sheet

Photo Number: N/A
Photo Date: 23 May 2000

Formats: Low Resolution Image Contact Sheet (115 KBytes)
Medium Resolution Image Contact Sheet (115 KBytes)
High Resolution Image Contact Sheet (115 KBytes)

Photo
Description:
These are the image contact sheets for each image resolution of the NASA Dryden Centurion Photo Gallery.

Project
Description:
The Centurion solar-powered aircraft was one of an on-going series of vehicles designed for ultra-long-duration flight at high altitudes. The original vehicle was built by AeroVironment, Inc., in 1983 in a classified program called HALSOL for High Altitude Solar. After tests were completed, HALSOL was put into storage for a decade. In 1993, the vehicle was modified, becoming the Pathfinder. Five years later, another modification yielded Pathfinder Plus, with a wingspan increased from 98 to 121 feet.

A subsequent vehicle in the series was the Centurion with a 206-foot wingspan, powered by 14 electric motors, compared to 6 on one version of Pathfinder and 8 on Pathfinder-Plus. The Centurion first flew in 1998. As with the HALSOL/Pathfinder/Pathfinder-Plus vehicles, the Centurion was further modified with the addition of a 41-foot wing extension and a fifth landing-gear pod. With a wingspan of 247 feet, the renamed "Helios Prototype" had 2 1/2 times the wingspan of the original HALSOL/Pathfinder.


Keywords: Centurion; Pathfinder; Pathfinder-Plus; Dryden Flight Research Center; AeroVironment; Inc.; ERAST; Helios Prototype


Last Modified: February 6, 2002
Responsible NASA Official: Marty Curry
Curator: PAO Webmasters

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