The Project

     We all (Tighe Costa, Matthew Matera, Archie Wheeler and Hudson Orbe) have worked together on many school sponsored projects, sharing a love of engineering and design. In April of 2011, we applied for the Herzig Grant to build an autonomous drone, powered entirely by solar cells. We received the generous grant two weeks later. Originally, our intentions had been to build the drone over the summer, when we would all have time off from the notorious junior year. When the parts we had ordered ("to make sure they'll be here for the summer") arrived, our excitement got the best of us and we neglected our studies, our families, and our pets to "just get a head start" on our project. Initially working after school, we soon found ourselves slaving away during free periods, lunch, before school, and even during the five minute breaks between classes. After a summer of work, we successfully flew our plane for the first time in August, but were disappointed with its performance. We achieved our goal of completely solar powered flight in November after several modifications. Now we're back again for another summer to rebuild and improve our plane. We want to thank our peers, teachers, and parents for encouraging and supporting us. Please take a minute to check out our site and our blog.

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Please feel free to contact us at: C[email protected]