While the Solar Impulse will never replace fuel-powered commercial flights, it is designed to showcase the possibilities of solar-flight. For example, three years ago, the plane flew non-stop for 26 hours, which means it was able to store enough energy from sunlight to be able to still fly through the dark night sky. With that said, in its current state, the single-seat plane can only cruise around 40 mph. Also, due to its low weight, it cannot fly through clouds, for fear that rough turbulence and/or bad weather could bring the plane down.
In 2012, the plane made its first
transcontinental voyage, traveling from 1,550 miles from Madrid, Spain to
Rabat, Morocco. It made that 1,550 mile flight in 20 hours. The Solar Impulse
has the wingspan of an Airbus A340, but only weighs as much as an average car.
The plane’s creators, Bertrand Piccard
and André Borschberg, will make the Solar Impulse available during its “Across America” tour. In the image below, the red dots show the cities that have been selected for the tour.
Interestingly enough, Piccard, one of the creators, is not the only adventurous “scientist” in his family. In fact, his father, Jacques, was an oceanographer who plunged deeper beneath the ocean than any other man. Before that, Piccard’s grandfather, Auguste, was the first man to take a balloon into the stratosphere.
CBS
also highlighted the solar plane during its 60 Minutes program. Here is a link
to the video clip.
Sources:
AP, Time Magazine, CBS
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