Solar Impulse Flies for 26 Hours Using Only Solar Energy
News sources have reported on the amazing feat that took 7 years to come to pass. At last, it is a reality: long-range flight powered exclusively by solar power - 12,000 solar cells to be exact.
Using only energy from the sun, the aircraft managed to climb to 28,000 feet (8,535 meters) and reach top speeds of over 75 mph (170 kph).
The aircraft stayed in flight for a total of 26 hours and 9 minutes. The plane was designed to seat only 1 pilot, so a ground crew monitored the entire flight very carefully to document the experiment and to ensure the safety of the pilot, who used breathing exercises and a water spray bottle to stay awake. The plane doesn't have autopilot, nor can it be flown remotely from the ground.
This historic flight, manned by pilot Andre Borschberg, proves that the solar system designed for the plane enabled it to stay in the air even at night because the solar panels had collected and saved enough power during the day.
The test brings the Swiss-led project one step closer to its goal of circling the globe using only energy from the sun.
Physically, the aircraft is built using state-of-the-art material: strong and sturdy enough to survive turbulence, thermal winds, and freezing conditions at night, yet extremely light and well-designed to ensure maximum efficiency. It has the wingspan of a Boeing 777 passenger jet that measures 207 feet (63 meters), but the plane only weights slightly over a ton.
The project's overarching purpose is to test and promote new energy-efficient technologies.
Project co-founder Bertrand Piccard, himself a record-breaking balloonist, said many people had been skeptical that renewable energy could ever be used to take a man into the air and keep him there.
"There is a before and after in terms of what people have to believe and understand about renewable energies," Piccard said, adding that the flight was proof new technologies can help break society's dependence on fossil fuels.
The team will now start to build a second solar plane that will be more efficient and have a larger cockpit to allow for longer flights. That plane should be ready for international flights by 2013, said Borschberg.
The round-the-world flight will eventually be made with five stops along the way.
One day, commercial air travel might possibly be powered exclusively by the sun, ending the aviation industry's dependence on fossil fuel. Such a change to clean energy would significantly reduce air pollution and countless other social costs that come from the mining, processing, and consumption of crude oil.
For more information, visit Solar Impulse.
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