DARPA looking at 'Z-Wing' stratocruiser Solar wingship triad
will dock together 17 miles up Last week, news broke that the
Pentagon had selected three design teams to contend for its
"Vulture" project, in which enormous yet frail unmanned flying
wings will cruise for years on end in the upper reaches of the
atmosphere. Details of the plans are expected later this month,
but some intriguing information has already leaked out. The ill-
fated Helios. 'Odysseus' will take off in three sections. In
particular, Flight International reported yesterday on a talk
with an engineer from Aurora Flight Sciences. Aurora's Vulture
design is codenamed "Odysseus", no doubt alluding to the
extremely lengthy voyages the craft is intended to make. Rather
splendidly, the Odysseus solar wingship will not be a single
unit like NASA's ill-fated, jumbo jet sized Aerovironment
Helios. Rather, its three sections will take off independently
and dock themselves together at high altitude, forming an
immense 150 metre unit. The especially c