In January 2012, during the annual World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, MS Turanor PlanetSolar, the largest solar-powered boat in the world owned by Swiss company PlanetSolar SA, stopped at the coast of Abu Dhabi before it completed its two-year trip around the world without using a single liter of petrol, sailing home to its original port in Monaco.
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Mr Lennon is ABB’s project manager for the flight, but until past year he was also a communications manager for the Solar Impulse project.
“Solar Impulse has made a great achievement”, Piccard announced to a crowd in Abu Dhabi just moments after exiting the cockpit.
The plane, powered by 17,000 solar cells, traveled 42,000 kilometers (about 26,100 miles) in a little more than a year.
After landing, Mr. Piccard made his rounds hugging the members of his team at the airport as the Solar Impulse was towed into the makeshift hangar for the last time. An empty Boeing 747, by comparison, weighs approximately 181,000kgs.
Despite the achievement of its historic mission, Solar Impluse 2’s journey was far from quick or problem-free.
The plane landed at its starting point in Abu Dhabi at 04:05 am local time, after a final leg of 48 hours and 37 minutes from Cairo.
Over its entire mission, Solar Impluse 2 completed more than 500 flight hours, cruising at an average speed of between 28-56 mph.
“You know, with Andre, we have worked for 15 years in that project to make it happen”. The shortest was leg 14, Pennsylvania to NY.
The solar powered plane has been flown by pilot Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, his partner and fellow pilot, in turns as the aircraft can accommodate only one at a time.
“This landing brings full circle the historic circumnavigation that began on 9 March 2015 when Si2 set off from Abu Dhabi with Borschberg at the controls”, the team said.
Finishing the historical journey, Piccard said, “The future is clean”.
Neither pilot was able to stand in the cockpit while flying, but the seat reclined for stretching and its cushion could be removed for access to a toilet.
Goggles worn over the pilot’s eyes flashed lights to wake him up while armbands worn underneath their suits buzzed when the plane was not at flying level.
Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg alternated piloting the solar-powered plane. “The creation of the [ICCT] and the experience of the engineering team in developing electric aircrafts, manned or unmanned, will allow us to go far ‘beyond Solar Impulse, ‘” Piccard said.
“The history of aviation is a success for the history of energy, showing to the world that clean technologies and renewable energies are ready, they are mature, they can achieve impossible things”.
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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 previous year.
