China’s largest solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its first flight last Saturday.

 This unmanned aerial vehicle, otherwise known as the drone, is known as the Pimingxing-50.

 Its English meaning is Morning Star-50. It has been developed by a company operating under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).

This plane took off last Saturday in China’s Yulin city. Accordingly, the plane was taken off at around 5.50 pm and landed at 6.16 pm. The plane was flown for 26 minutes, and  AVIC said that it operated in very good condition and that the trip was successful.

200 Qimingxing-50 3700 is also the first high-altitude long-range UAV model produced by AVIC. Accordingly, this aircraft can fly at a height of 15-20 kilometres from the ground at the lowest speed.

Also, 100% of the energy required for the aircraft is provided by pure solar power. Accordingly, AVIC states that this is a fully electric-powered drone.

According to the manufacturers, this aircraft can be used for high-altitude inspections, forest fire monitoring, atmospheric environment monitoring, geographic mapping, as well as a communication method.