Solar Impulse: The First Solar Powered Plane To Fly Over Night
Making a new milestone in the use of solar power, a Swiss team has made headlines when they flew for more than 26 hours straight in a solar powered plane.
This from Aircraft completes first solar-powered night flight | Reuters–
Bertrand Piccard, known for his around the world trip in a hot air balloon in 1999 is the president of this project was quoted saying that the team is on the verge of perpetual flight.
#-Link-Snipped-#
Image Credit: Reuters
The plane in itself is an engineering marvel, Solar Impulse HB-SIA is a giant glider-like aircraft powered by more than 12,000 solar cells. These cells have been built into the 193-foot wing-span, that around 64.3 meters. The plane weighs a meager 1600 kilos (that’s approximately the weight of a mid-sized car), and is powered by 4 electronic motors.
The real success factor behind the overnight flight is the high performance batteries, which store the energy from the solar power captured by the cells.
#-Link-Snipped-#shows us what this means for us –
The team is building more prototypes, to cross the Atlantic, then to circumnavigate the globe. The plane can currently do a maximum speed of 68 knots, and requires some work in this field before it can become commercially viable. But Piccard is confident of securing another 20 million Swiss francs ($19 million) for funding their project further. With years of improvement in carrying capacity and in speed, who knows maybe someday we will have the entire aviation industry on a greener and much cleaner energy source!
This from Aircraft completes first solar-powered night flight | Reuters–
Solar Impulse, whose wingspan is the same as an Airbus A340, flew 26 hours and 9 minutes, powered only by solar energy stored during the day. It was also the longest and highest flight in the history of solar aviation, organizers said.
Bertrand Piccard, known for his around the world trip in a hot air balloon in 1999 is the president of this project was quoted saying that the team is on the verge of perpetual flight.
#-Link-Snipped-#
Image Credit: Reuters
The plane in itself is an engineering marvel, Solar Impulse HB-SIA is a giant glider-like aircraft powered by more than 12,000 solar cells. These cells have been built into the 193-foot wing-span, that around 64.3 meters. The plane weighs a meager 1600 kilos (that’s approximately the weight of a mid-sized car), and is powered by 4 electronic motors.
The real success factor behind the overnight flight is the high performance batteries, which store the energy from the solar power captured by the cells.
#-Link-Snipped-#shows us what this means for us –
The flight was part of the project’s 100 million Swiss franc ($95 million) effort sponsored by Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, to eventually pilot the first flight around the globe in an airplane using only solar energy.
The team is building more prototypes, to cross the Atlantic, then to circumnavigate the globe. The plane can currently do a maximum speed of 68 knots, and requires some work in this field before it can become commercially viable. But Piccard is confident of securing another 20 million Swiss francs ($19 million) for funding their project further. With years of improvement in carrying capacity and in speed, who knows maybe someday we will have the entire aviation industry on a greener and much cleaner energy source!
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