The future of energy is solar. That means, the future of travel is also solar. Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard have a history of adventure, with Piccard making the first trans-global trip in a balloon in 1999. Since then, he and Borschberg have been working on a solar-powered airplane called the Solar Impulse. Finally, after years of development, the experimental HB-SIA is scheduled to make the world’s longest and highest solar-only flight.
“For seven years now, the whole team has been passionately working to achieve this first decisive step of the project,” said pilot Borschberg as he entered the cockpit at an airfield in Payerne, Switzerland. The hard part won’t be taking off or flying the plane, which is the weight of a family car despite being having the wingspan of a jumbo jet, but keeping the plane powered. A 24-hour flight will test the batteries, and the plane’s cruising altitude of 27,900 feet is the upper limits of where the plane’s solar cells can take in energy.
“The big question is whether the pilot can make efficient use of the battery energy to fly throughout the night,” the team said in a statement. “If this mission is successful, it will be the longest and highest flight ever made by a solar plane.”
Tags: solar-powered airplane, Solar Impulse, Andre Borschberg, Bertrand Piccard, HB-SIA, experimental aircraft, unusual aircraft, highest and longest flight by a solar-powered airplane planned, airplane with 12000 solar cells, unusual airplanes, transportation