At the end of June, the Solar Impulse will engage in its first ever manned flight at nighttime.
The plane, propelled solely by solar energy, will take off from an airfield in Switzerland on the next sunny day near the end of June. Operators have planned to fly the aircraft around in the sun giving the jet an opportunity to store up enough energy to power its electric motors during the night hours.
Andre Borschberg, the project’s co-founder, and his partner Bertrand Piccard, a former round-the-world balloonist, want to demonstrate that the aircraft can be used both during the day and in the evening hours. Eventually, it is hoped that the jet can make long distance flights with no fuel use at all.
Dr Piccard said the night flights are designed to test the potential of solar renewable energies and the technology that will allow people to move away from oil dependency. The HB-SIA, the solar plane, has a 61m wingspan, similar to the wingspan of a jumbo jet, but weighs less than a saloon car. The inaugural flight of the aircraft took place back in December. and since it has successfully performed subsequent daytime flight tests. The first full day flight was successfully completed on 7 April.
For the first night flight, Mr Borshberg will be piloting the aircraft, should it be successful the Solar Impulse crew will regroup for further testing. The aim of the jet is to push renewable energy further. In two years, both men hope to fly across the atlantic, followed by a circumnavigation of the world in 2010.
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