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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Pilots to attempt around-the-world solar-powered flight next week
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Pilots to attempt around-the-world solar-powered flight next week

Solar Impulse 2 to begin 35,000 km journey from Abu Dhabi on Monday

Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, founders of the Swiss Solar Impulse project, will attempt to circumnavigate the globe in the northern hemisphere. Photo: Matth1 via Wikimedia Commons. (Matth1 via Wikimedia Commons. )Premium
Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, founders of the Swiss Solar Impulse project, will attempt to circumnavigate the globe in the northern hemisphere. Photo: Matth1 via Wikimedia Commons.
(Matth1 via Wikimedia Commons. )

New Delhi: Next week will start with an attempt to push the boundaries of scientific innovation in the form of Solar Impulse 2 (Si2).

Two pilots on Monday will attempt to fly Si2 around the world with only solar energy as its fuel. The two pilots, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, who are also founders of the Swiss project Solar Impulse, will attempt to circumnavigate the globe in the northern hemisphere, with pit stops along the way including in two Indian cities.

Piccard and Borschberg will complete around 500 flight hours in the 3.8 cu. m cockpit.

The date was announced on Solar Impulse’s Twitter handle.

Si2 will begin its 35,000km journey from Abu Dhabi on 9 March. The route will include stops in Muscat, Oman; Ahmedabad and Varanasi in India; Mandalay, Myanmar; and Chongqing and Nanjing, China. After crossing the Pacific Ocean via Hawaii, Si2 will fly across continental US, stopping in two other locations—Phoenix and New York City.

After crossing the Atlantic, the final part of the journey will include a stopover in southern Europe or north Africa before arriving back in Abu Dhabi.

The partner companies in the Si2 adventure include Solvay SA, Omega, Schindler, ABB Ltd, Altran, Bayer AG, Google Inc., Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, Swisscom and Moet Hennessy alongside Solar Impulse’s Abu Dhabi partner Masdar, a renewable energy company.

In 1999, Piccard flew around the globe in a hot air balloon. He promised that his next voyage around the world would use only renewable energy.

They have conducted 25-hour solo flights in Si2 across Africa, Europe and America. This single-seater aircraft made of carbon fibre has a 72m wingspan, which is larger than that of the Boeing 747-8I for a weight of 2,300kg, which is the weight of an average car.

The 17,000 solar cells built into the wing supply four electric motors with renewable energy. During the day, the solar cells recharge lithium batteries weighing 633kg, which allow the aircraft to fly at night.

The pilots will be equipped with six oxygen bottles, one parachute, one life raft, and food and water for a week. A multipurpose seat functions both as reclining berth and toilet.

“What is really special is that it is the first and only airplane in the world which has unlimited endurance. We have an airplane which is fully sustainable in terms of energy, and our challenge now is to make the pilot sustainable as well," Piccard said at a press conference in Abu Dhabi in February.

The pilot will be in continuous touch with the mission control centre via satellite data link and all possible eventualities are simulated by a multidisciplinary team to find the right combination of weather patterns, and pave the way for the solar airplane to enter controlled airspace and prepare for landings at international airports.

“An aeroplane flying day and night without any fuel, flying around the world, is something that is still today considered to be completely impossible, so we are not saying that we are going to do it. We are saying that we are trying to make the attempt to fulfil this historic first," Piccard said at the press conference in Abu Dhabi.

“The goal is not only the success of the flight, but after the successful landing the project is to really start miracles, incredible achievement with renewable energies and clean technologies. So no one in the future can say that renewable energy is just an anecdote," he added.

There have been doubts about whether solar planes could be a reality in the near future. An article in Wired magazine in 2013 said the power consumed by a plane depends essentially on three numbers—speed, weight and glide ratio.

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Published: 05 Mar 2015, 01:28 AM IST
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