Solar-powered aircraft targets 100-hour flight over Fuerteventura
The uncrewed APUS NEO 18 is due back at Fuerteventura’s Technology Park on Saturday 7 November after more than four days in the air.
A solar-powered aircraft with no crew is on a flight over Fuerteventura and the surrounding ocean. The flight is expected to last more than 100 hours, according to Noticias Fuerteventura.
The APUS NEO 18 is due back at the Canarias Stratoport for HAPS & UAS at Fuerteventura’s Technology Park on Saturday 7 November. By then, it will have spent more than four days in the air without landing. It took off from the same site and has reached a height of 9,100 metres during the mission.
The planned flight time has not yet been reached. The report, published on 5 November, says the trial is still under way.
What is being tested?
Mira Aerospace developed the APUS NEO 18. It is a high-altitude platform system, or HAPS, sometimes called a pseudosatellite. It is still an aircraft: it does not enter space or orbit the Earth.
The technology is designed to stay over one area for long periods. It can carry equipment to observe the area, relay signals or monitor the environment. The model’s published maximum operating height is 18,000 metres. It has not reached that height during this flight over Fuerteventura.
The trial is part of the ISSEC project, which is linked to the Canarias Geo Innovation Program 2030. Possible uses include managing emergencies, monitoring wildfires, studying the range of plant and animal life, and watching changes in the environment. These are intended uses of the technology. They are not services confirmed to be in use during this mission.
Sharing airspace with commercial flights
The trial tests more than how long the aircraft can stay in the air. It also looks at how uncrewed aircraft can share airspace with commercial flights.
Specialists from the Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies, CATEC, operate the platform. A joint venture between Telespazio Ibérica and Pegasus Aero Group manages the operation. Aviation authorities and airspace bodies help coordinate it from the Technology Park.
The current mission follows an initial campaign in 2025 and a flight in Spain in September 2026. That flight lasted more than 24 hours without a break. This latest test aims to stay in the air for much longer.