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The Zephyr is a series of high-altitude platform station aircraft produced by Airbus.
They were designed originally by QinetiQ, a commercial offshoot of the UK Ministry of Defence.
In July 2010, the Zephyr 7 flew during 14 days.
In March 2013, the project was sold to Airbus Defence and Space.
In the summer of 2022, the Zephyr 8/S flew during 64 days.
The unmanned aerial vehicles are powered by solar cells, recharging batteries in daylight to stay aloft at night.
The latest Zephyr 8/S weighs 60 kg (130 lb), has a wingspan of 25 m (82 ft), can reach 23,200 m (76,100 ft) and can lift a 5 kg (11 lb) payload for months.
They can be used for mobile phone coverage, environmental monitoring, military reconnaissance or as a communications relay.

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