Hey all
After our little bought with the strong north east currents, Silbo has gotten back on course towards the south west. Looking onwards, Silbo has a long and winding road ahead, as he flies south past the Cape Verde Islands, across the Equator and on the Rio de Janeiro.
The distance between Silbo and our ideal recovery sight is roughly 7,400 km, with our only safety net being Cape Verde. This leaves us with nearly 5,000 km of open ocean flight where if we run into any trouble, it will be tough to get ourselves back out. But in the name of science and adventure, Silbo is backed with a team that are determined to safely navigate him through the Atlantic and assure his safe arrival.
One way in which we have prepared Silbo for this journey is we have crammed his hull to the brim with lithium batteries, which when coupled with the new low power mode setting released by TWR has given Silbo over a year of energy!
In the plot above, we can see that Silbo’s batteries are projected to last somewhere between 14 and 16 months from now giving us the potential to fly until January 2014. How low power mode works is that instead of leaving the flight computer on 24/7, the computer is only turned on every 30 seconds during dives and climbs (after becoming situated during the process of inflection). This conservation of energy has now given Silbo a very nice cushion, relieving us all of the stress of running out of power.
Force Wind Sea & Honor!
Nilsen & Antonio