United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday hailed the determination and courage of the Solar Impulse flight team as the aircraft was about to complete its around-the-world journey.
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Cheers and applause broke out as the plane touched down before dawn in Abu Dhabi after the final leg of its marathon trip which began on March 9 a year ago. “If you think about the future of aviation, it’s quite clear we will move in the direction of electric propulsion because of its efficiency”, Borschberg says.
The solar plane made 16 stops across the world without using a drop of fuel.
The aircraft is uniquely powered by 17,248 solar cells that transfer energy to four electrical motors that power the plane’s propellers. Those comments echo ones made by Piccard to Reuters before the start of the 17th and final leg, in which he noted that while “the round the world flight ends in Abu Dhabi”, that the project’s core mission – promoting “clean technologies around the world” – was far from over. The plane featured a set of four onboard lithium-ion batteries, which were charged by the solar panels, so the flight could be achieved even when solar energy was not available.
Solar Impulse 2 pilots Bertrand Piccard, left, and Andre Borschberg speaks with the media as they celebrate the landing of their plane at an airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, early Tuesday, July 26, 2016.
Solar Impulse 2, a lightweight aircraft with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, has just completed a 27,000-mile (about 43,450-kilometre) journey around the world. The biggest hold-up occurred in Hawaii, when the plane’s batteries overheated after Borschberg’s record-breaking five-day journey across the Pacific.
Masdar, a government-backed energy company, was one of the sponsors of the Solar Impulse 2.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan tweeted: “We hope the success of @solarimpulse helps to deliver Abu Dhabi’s message about the need to invest in clean energy and encourage innovation”. “It demonstrates clearly that with pioneering spirit and clean technologies, we can run the world without consuming the earth”.
This is a historic day for Captain Piccard and the Solar Impulse team, but it is also a historic day for humanity.
Plans call for the $14 billion park to eventually produce 5,000 megawatts by 2030, enough to power tens of thousands of homes.
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While the voyage itself is quite a feat, Piccard emphasized that personal achievements were not the main focus of the project, telling USA Today, “The most important thing isn’t to make world records”.
