Solar Impulse 2 soars into the air with first global flight
Power will only be generated through solar energy.
The inaugural flight of Solar Impulse 2 has started, with the first leg starting in Abu Dhabi who is the host city for the famed solar aircraft. The project was made in coordination with Masdar City.
The project will see the Solar Impulse 2 travel around the globe and go back to Abu Dhabi by July. The trip will see the aircraft fly more than 35,000 km and complete it in about 617 hours – all of it powered only through solar energy.
In a report by Gulf News, the pilots of the aircraft, Dr Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg said that they are emotional after seeing their hard work of 12 years come into fruition. They’ve also mentioned the amount of stress and challenges they have faced in developing the aircraft and make it suitable and safe to fly.
The Solar impulse will consist of 12 flights, which will be placed in various places around the world. The flight schedule is as follows:
Flight 1: Abu Dhabi – Muscat
Flight 2: Muscat – Ahmedabad
Flight 3: Ahmedabad – Varanasi
Flight 4: Varanasi – Mandalay
Flight 5: Mandalay – Chongqing
Flight 6: Chongqing – Nanjing
Flight 7: Nanjing – Hawaii
Flight 8: Hawaii – Phoenix
Flight 9: Phoenix – Mid. USA
Flight 10: Mid. USA – New York
Flight 11: New York – Europe/Africa
Flight 12: Europe/North Africa – Abu Dhabi
The Solar Impulse 2 has a 72 meter wingspan, which is larger than the Boeing 747 but only weighs about 2,300 kilograms, which is equivalent to a small car. There are more than 17,000 solar cells that are built into the wings of the plane, which in turn charge the lithium batteries that will power the plane.
You can follow the Solar Impulse Twitter account or visit the website on www.solarimpulse.com. You can also watch a livestream of the flight in the video below:
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