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Flying around the world without any fuel isn’t just for the birds.
Hey guys, Amy here for DNews.
As fuels prices soar and the carbon footprint of air travel gets bigger, isn’t is nice
to imagine a world where solar powered planes fly from city to city without using up a costly
natural resource?
Well, we’re on the way to seeing that dream become a reality.
Next month, Swiss Pilots André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard will begin a slow but
steady flight around the globe without using any fuel.
Their airplane, Solar Impulse 2, is entirely solar powered.
Solar Impulse 2 is a revolutionary single-seater aircraft made of carbon fiber so it’s ultra
light; it weighs just under 7,055 pounds, which is about what a small car weighs.
And it’s wingspan is comparatively massive.
From tip to tip, Solar Impulse measures just over 263 feet, which is larger than the wingspan
of a Boeing 747.
On those wings are more than 17,000 solar cells designed to recharge 2077 pounds of
lithium batteries.
The batteries store enough energy to allow the airplane to fly at night, too, supplying
continuous energy to its four engines.
So it should be able to fly around the world without stopping, right?
Not quite.
Solar Impulse 2 is almost all wing.
The cockpit is just over 134 cubic feet and can only support one pilot at a time.
There are no facilities, no inflight meal service, and no place to rest.
So Borschberg and Piccard will be alternating legs of the journey.
They will start from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, then make several stops in
India, China, the U.S. and Europe before returning to Abu Dhabi.
If everything goes according to plan, they should complete the trip in late July or early
August.
The flight is going to take a while because Solar Impulse 2 can’t fly that high or that
fast.
After its unveiling last April, the solar plane made its debut flight in Switzerland
last June 2014.
It reached a maximum altitude of 5,500 feet and flew at an average ground speed of 35
mph.
This isn’t the first long-distance solar-powered flight these pilots have made.
In the summer of 2013, they flew from California to New York in the predecessor aircraft, Solar
Impulse.
It was also a slow journey, though not as slow; it reached a top speed of about 53 miles
per hour.
It’ll be really interesting to see how this flight develops, and more interesting to see
how this technology eventually trickles into the commercial market.
But it’ll still be a while.
This solar powered plane is the first of its kind and change doesn’t always come quick
to the aviation industry.
Flying people all around the world is a massive business that can’t stop while new technologies
are introduced.
So if solar powered planes do become commonplace, not only is it a way off, but it will likely
be a slow transition.
So what about you guys?
Are you keen to fly by solar power?
Providing there was a washroom on board, that is.
Let us know in the comments below or you can ask me on Twitter as @astVintageSpace.
And don’t forget to subscribe for more DNews every day of the week.