Follow your curiosity

What discovery has been shared with you?

FACTREE gives you something interesting to discover every day — and something worth talking about together.

Start with one fact. Explore it, go deeper, then follow whichever branch catches your imagination.

Choose subjects for a surprise

Exploring any topic

Begin your discovery

Your next discovery is one click away.

Choose one or more subjects above, or leave Any Topic selected and let curiosity decide.

Engineering

Analyzing the Gust Response of a Flexible Solar-Powered Drone Wing

Quick fact

Because the wing is flexible and light, the air loads during a gust cause the wing to bend and twist, creating dynamic stresses that are often higher than what a rigid-wing analysis would predict.

Why this is interesting

A solar-powered drone's wing can flex like a fishing rod in a breeze, yet it must survive turbulent gusts over weeks aloft. How do engineers make sure it won't snap?