High-Altitude Pseudo Satellite vehicle (HAPS)

About High-Altitude Pseudo Satellite vehicle

• It is a new age unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can significantly increase India’s surveillance and monitoring capabilities in the border areas.
• It is a still-developing technology, and the successful test flight last week puts India among a very small group of countries currently experimenting with this technology.
• Features
  • It can fly at altitudes of 18-20 km from the ground, almost double the heights attained by commercial airplanes.
  • It has the ability to generate solar power.
  • It can remain in air for months, even years, offering it advantages of a satellite.
  • It does not require a rocket to get into space.
  • The cost of operating HAPS is several times lower than that of a satellite that is usually placed at least 200 km from the earth.
• Applications of HAPS
  • It can be very useful in disaster situations.
  • It can even be used to provide mobile communications networks in remote areas
  • Even it can be used in continuous surveillance of border areas to detect changes or movements.

Q1) How does Solar Energy create?

Solar energy is any type of energy generated by the sun. Solar energy is created by nuclear fusion that takes place in the sun. Fusion occurs when protons of hydrogen atoms violently collide in the sun’s core and fuse to create a helium atom.

Source: Meet HAPS: India’s very own UAV that can fly 20 km high and float for months