Solar Impulse 2 landed on Tuesday (July 26) in the UAE, completing its epic journey to become the first sun-powered airplane to circle the globe without a drop of fuel to promote renewable energy.
Advertisement
Taking turns in the single-seater 3.8m³ cockpit, the two pilots have flown Si2 around the world in 17 legs, crossing Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the U.S., the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East.
Exclusively powered by solar energy, Si2 is the first aircraft of its kind that is created to fly day and night without using traditional fuel.
Piccard completed the journey shortly before dawn in the United Arab Emirates, and published reports indicate that moments after landing, he gave a thumbs up from the cockpit and said, “We made it!”
“The same clean technologies used on Solar Impulse could be implemented on the ground in our daily life to divide by two the Carbon dioxide emissions in a profitable way”. We are not sure if the Swiss team behind Solar Impulse plans to do this, but they might attempt it if they ideal the craft.
According to the BBC, Solar Impulse is comparable to a vehicle in weight, but has the wingspan of a Boeing 747.
“It means that the rest of the world has to take it further”. He launched the Solar Impulse project in 2003 with Piccard.
“The level of performance, durability and reliability required by the solar solution to achieve this groundbreaking flight made SunPower’s unique cell technology a natural choice for the Solar Impulse team”, said Peter Cousins, SunPower senior vice president, research, development and deployment. The firm provided the craft with 15 products applied in more than 6,000 parts that helped harvest and store energy, optimised fuel consumption and lightened the load of the plane. Like Lindbergh’s Atlantic crossing or Yeager’s breaking of the sound barrier, Solar Impulse has accomplished something truly groundbreaking, proving practical what was once thought impossible. The plane, called Solar Impulse 2, had amassed a 25,000-mile journey that began over a year ago.
Piccard and co-founder and partner Andre Borschberg changed as pilot from trip to trip as SI2 has only one pilot seat.
During the 16-month-long world tour, which also started in Abu Dhabi on March 9 2015, the SI2 made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, U.S., as well as some European and African countries.
Solar Impulse 2 took off from Cairo on the final leg early on Sunday, having previously crossed Asia, North America, Europe, and North Africa.
Borschberg’s flight over the Pacific Ocean at 118 hours (five days and five nights) smashed the record for the longest flight duration by an aircraft flying solo.
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.
Mr Borschberg, an engineer and graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is also an entrepreneur.
Advertisement
The pilots hope that their feat will encourage people, companies and governments to sit up and take notice of the possibilities that clean energy can open up.
