CAD

Shrinkwrap Model of Astro aircraft: STP file type (open in edrawings if you need quick view)

Drawings

Mounting Points: Plate Vibration Isolator Bulb (mm)

Chassis Mounting Points: Assembly Airframe Complete (mm)

Dimensions

Power

Power is provided by two Freefly SuperLight batteries. Learn more about SuperLight batteries in the Freefly wiki.

The aircraft evaluates battery level from the State of Charge (e.g. 72%), not voltage (e.g. 23 Volts).

The battery voltage bus runs between 18 and 25.2 volts. Connection to battery voltage is available via the I/O panel.

In an emergency, the aircraft is capable of flying and landing safely on one battery.

It is not possible to power the aircraft via the USB-C port.

Motors, Motor Drives, and Propellers

Astro features the F45 motor found on Alta 6 and 8 but with a larger 21 inch plastic prop. A larger prop was introduced to increase flight times given the lower nominal payload limit on Astro as compared to our larger drones.

The Freefly-developed motor drive is known internally as the Astro100 drive and is the fastest response field oriented control drive that we have ever tested. This response time is critical to achieving precise flight characteristics even with large props. The Astro100 drive can accelerate and decelerate the prop much faster than the original F45 drive used on Alta aircraft.

The props are 21" fiber reinforced plastic props which help lower vibration and and increase flight time.

Onboard Computer

Processor: 1.8 GHz Quad Cortex-A53 Memory: 4 GB RAM

Landing Sensor

The landing sensor is an IR Diode rangefinder with a range capability of approximately 9m.

This sensor is not appropriate for terrain following.

Powerplant

Propellers

Battery

Astro uses only Freefly SuperLight Batteries. Two batteries are needed per flight.

Flight Controller

Misc

Weight and Payload

Maximum Gross Weight

To determine maximum gross weight, determine flight location pressure altitude and temperature, and refer to the weight in the chart below. Gross Weight includes payload, battery and structure weight.

The maximum gross weight might exceed the weight allowed by regulatory agencies. When determining gross weight, please consider any such local restrictions on aircraft weight when planning aircraft weight.

Flight Time

Hovering

Power Consumption at Hover

Table from curve fit

Flight time can change depending on several factors such as the type of flying (e.g. hover vs forward flight) and weather (wind, temperature, barometric pressure, humidity). These effects are intertwined. For example: in cold temperatures, air density is high, but less energy is available from the batteries.

Assumptions:

• These flights were performed at temperature of 13 °C and elevation of 12 meters above sea level.

• Two fully charged SL-8 Air batteries (2 * 7.3 amp hours).

• Landing at 4% battery State of Charge remaining (e.g. default low battery failsafe settings).

Flight Speeds

Range

2 km, line-of-sight

Noise

The volume of the aircraft at ground level depends on several factors, including payload weight, wind speed and direction, and the background noise of the environment. The following data was gathered with an Astro in hover carrying the A7R4 camera and gimbal, tested from 5 meters to 100 meters away from the user, from 5 meters altitude to 120 meters altitude.

This data is presented in the ‘A-Weighted’ scale, which approximates the average loudness sensed by the human ear, and is used by the FAA to measure aircraft noise.

In our testing, hovering and forward flight showed similar values of the ground noise produced by the aircraft.