Aeronautical engineers are now being ready to attempt a
flight around the world next year after they achieved their flying from Spain
to Morocco in 2012 and across the U.S. in 2013 by solar-powered plane. It has
been reported that their new improved version of this kind of plane called
Solar Impulse 2 has been recently launched in Switzerland.
The plane in this version weighs only no more than a large
car and it is a single-seat airplane with a wingspan of 72 meters including its
wings around 200 square meters of space for solar cells that charge lithium-ion
batteries, needed to keep in flying at night. At an average altitude of 8,500
meters, with its four electric motors, it can fly a speed of up to 140
kilometers per hour.
The Solar Impulse 1, as the longest flight of its
predecessor, which flying from Phoenix, Arizona to Dallas, Texas in May 2013,
was just over 1,500 kilometers; however, the pilot Andre Borschberg, who used
to fly jets for the Swiss Air Force, says the new version (Solar Impulse 2)
with suitable weather will be able to fly much longer distances between
stops. The important matters are when we
leave the coast of China, we don’t know what the weather looks like on the other
side of the ocean, said Borschberg.
Including flights of the previous version, it took 12 years of the research and testing to finally build
the aircraft they believe will be able to fly around the world in 20 flying
days spread over three months.
“Each detail on this version of airplane is specifically
designed for maximum efficiency and the Solar Impulse 2 is an example of energy
efficiency, how we save the energy, and how the energy from the sun is enough
to keep the airplane flying in both of the air day and night,” said Bertrand
Piccard, the chairman of the Solar Impulse project.
The real goal of this great project is not to promote
building more solar-powered planes, but it is to bring products to their
clients which are more energy efficient in home building, transportation and
appliances. This new version of the project (Solar Impulse 2) is
scheduled to start test flights in May, but the actual circumnavigation is
planned to begin next March from an airport somewhere in the Persian Gulf.
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