SBIR/STTR Award attributes
There is a lot of expected return on investment for Commercializing Stratospheric Operations for military, scientific, and private industry markets. The development of aircraft, payloads, subsystems and propulsion for this type of effort has been in work for a while. These technologies are finally being integratednbsp;so that commercializing the stratosphere is real and will be done within the next 3-5 years.nbsp;nbsp;Swift believes both are required, and even with collaboration from balloons and satellites, but as a steppingstone, the focus should be on the cheaper, efficient, smaller, but still capable solar craft. This should meet a SWaP target of the payload being ~22nbsp;lbs, about a shoebox or two in size, and have an operational requirement of lt;250watt continuous. Multiple aircraft carrying that size SWaP target 1) allows for technologies now and in development to be commercialized and tested while 2) keeping the overall development of the aircraft/payloads, mission operations, and MRO costs down.nbsp;This trade study should result in a HALE UAS capable of achieving a payload SWaP during operations (both day and night) of at least 22 lbs, 250 watts operational (based on market research), and fit within 1 or 2nbsp;shoebox size configuration. This vehicle will be designed to have modular payload capabilities, some of which are photogrammetry, gas-particle collection, ISR, maritime, observation overtime periods, disaster relief, communication relay, and other scientific research requirements.nbsp;Swift developed 50+ mission sets with NASA representatives in the design of the current configuration UAS that will be expanded under this SOW. This paper describes Swiftrsquo;s HALE UAS technology as it currently stands and what is to be achieved to meet the mission outlined in this NASA topic.
