In the middle of 2017, Chinese engineers completed a near-space flight test for a drone that reached 20,100 km above the ground. The UFO (Unmanned Flying Object) performs like both aircraft and satellites.

The solar-powered drone can fly non-stop for months or even years and is expected to mainly perform disaster relief and anti-terrorist tasks.

More details at:
Chinadaily.com.cn

Dailymail.co.uk/news

COMMENTS FROM GOOGLE PLUS

Plautus Satire (Jun 5, 2017)
I first saw aircraft like this around 1980

All Things Chinese
China is not a pioneer in this field. However, those you saw in the 80s could not be solar-powered. I also don’t believe they flew in a near-space high altitude.

Surplus “OF DIGGITY” Information
No, but China does excellently with solar panels. Maybe not a pioneer, but they do bring their own innovation.
 
Alan Chan
China did not invent many of the things today but they are the innovators, like the Japanese 50/60 years ago. They copy an item, modify and make it better. China today is one of the largest or the largest manufacturers of solar panels in the world.

Plautus Satire
China built the first fully automated solar panel factories.

Plautus Satire
Yes, it was the solar powered “gossasolar-powered” built in 1979 then in the nineties the same inventor designed a high altitude solar flying wing that flew higher than the SR-71 spy plane and was used by NASA. Paul MacCready was the designer.
 
We periodically see these “first” events that are simply repeating what’s been done decades earlier. It’s part of the continual global propaganda campaign to keep people ignorant and make them forget new technologies so they don’t ask to use them for themselves.

All Things Chinese
Nobody ever said China’s solar drone is the first in the world. However it is the first in China. 

By the way, Paul MacCready’s 1979 flight was not solar-powered but “human-powered”.

Of course, later he did have designed a solar-powered drone Solar Challenger, that could fly higher than the SR-71 spy plane.

But please note, SR-71’s flight altitude is nearly 26 km. So for any solar-powered drone that is able to reach nearly 100 km, it beats Paul MacCready’s record and thus can be considered the first in the world. The new record was set. It wasn’t set by the Chinese but by someone somewhere on the planet. I don’t see any conspiracy here, honestly.

Finally, could MacCready’s drone fly for months and years continuously without landing?

Plautus Satire
Actually, the “gossamer penguin” was solar powered.

All Things Chinese
Yes, Gossamer Penguin was MacCready’s first solar-powered design prior to Solar Challenger, but it didn’t fly higher than SR-71 and wasn’t included in NASA’s intended Mars program. 

You are welcome to share your thoughts here