The longest and highest flight in the history of solar aviation took place over Payerne, Switzerland, on July 8th 2010. Andr\u00e9 Borschberg, a former Swiss air force pilot took off from Payerne airfield at 7am on Wednesday and landed 26 hours later at 9am on Thursday. At sunset, after having reached its maximum altitude of 8,535m it was decided to continue through the night relying only on solar power stored in the batteries. The pilot, exhausted, yet thrilled, said the flight had been the most incredible one of his career. He experienced a "very zen flight – unbelievably peaceful" that made it an "extraordinary night". <\/p>\n
Some of this revolutionary new plane features are its 12,000 solar cells mounted onto the wings and horizontal stabilizer, its extraordinary light weight (the same as a small car, 1,600kg), its wingspan of 63.40 meters (the same as a Boeing 747-400), and four electric motors with a maximum power of HP 10 each. It flies at an average speed of 70 km\/h, takes off at 35 km\/h and can reach an altitude of 8,500m. It conceals a wealth of state-of-the-art technology and innovative design. Some 80 partners including many Swiss companies and research institutes have worked together to conceive, build, test and fly the plane. ‘Solar Impulse’ required 50 engineers and technicians and was supported by 100 scientists and experts. It took seven years for the Sfr100-million ($88 million) project to take shape and…to take off. <\/p>\n
‘Solar Impulse’s main purpose is to test and to promote new energy-efficient technologies and as its co-founder Bertrand Piccard said: "It’s much more than just an aeronautical adventure; it’s a technological demonstration of what we can offer society in terms of renewable energy." They want to promote the use of the same technologies in heating systems, air conditioning, cars, and even computers. <\/p>\n
Having no time to rest on their laurels, the team is now working on an Atlantic crossing, before attempting a round-the-world flight in 25 days in five stages, scheduled for 2013. For more information about ‘Solar Impulse’: www.solarimpulse.com<\/link><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The longest and highest flight in the history of solar aviation took place over Payerne, Switzerland, on July 8th 2010. Andr\u00e9 Borschberg, a former Swiss air force pilot took off from Payerne airfield at 7am on Wednesday and landed 26 hours later at 9am on Thursday. At sunset, after having reached its maximum altitude of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[]},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n