The experimental aircraft has a 236-foot (72-meter) wingspan – larger than a Boeing 747 – and is bristling with 17,248 solar cells that power four electric motors.
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A solar-powered plane has landed in Arizona a day after it took off from California on a round-the-world journey.
The Swiss pilots tackling the flight are Andre Borschberg and Betrand Piccard.
Borschberg was the pilot for the Japan-to-Hawaii trip over the Pacific last July, staying airborne for almost 118 hours.
Hundreds of people gathered at Phoenix Goodyear Airport to witness the solar-powered plane’s arrival after it flew more than 720 miles from California on Monday.
Pilot Andre Borschberg sits in the cockpit of the Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 plane, Monday, May 2, 2016, in Goodyear, Ariz.
On its previous layover, the plane landed late the night of April 23 in Mountain View, departing a little over eight days later.
Borschberg will pilot Solar Impulse across the United States and to NY.
After Phoenix, the plane will make two more stops in the United States before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or Northern Africa, according to the website documenting the journey.
The fuel-free flight project started in March 2015, but it was put on hold in July after the plane’s batteries developed problems during a five-day flight from Japan to Hawaii.
The crew was forced to stay in Hawaii for nine months after the plane’s battery system sustained heat damage on its trip from Japan.
It was the 10th of 13 legs in a journey that began past year in the United Arab Emirates.
The 16-hour journey from San Francisco across the Mojave Desert marked the 10th leg of the journey and the halfway point through the historic flight across the world. “As always with Solar Impulse, there are a range of obstacles that must and will be overcome along the way!” Then he prepared for media interviews and made breakfast plans.
The flight marks the beginning of a cross-country trip and the continuation of the attempt to achieve the first ever round-the-world solar flight. He alternates with fellow pilot Bertrand Piccard in their campaign to build support for cleaner technologies.
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He took catnaps of only 20 minutes at a time to maintain control of the pioneering plane during his arduous flight from Japan, in what his team described as “difficult” conditions.
