Solar Impulse 2, the first fully solar-powered aeroplane, has completed the first round-the-world flight, after touching down in Abu Dhabi early on Tuesday, 26 Jul 2016.
The plane, with a wingspan wider than a Boeing 747 and carries more than 17,000 solar cells on its wings, began the circumnavigation on 09 Mar 2015 in Abu Dhabi. It has since crossed both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans using no fossil fuel and has spent 21 days in the air, chalking up a total of 43,109 km.
The aim of the Solar Impulse 2 adventure was not to demonstrate solar-powered planes for widespread use, but was more humble – to publicize the capabilities of renewable energy.
Piloted in turn by Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, the Solar Impulse 2 is not much heavier than a car, but has the wingspan of a Boeing 747, and has a cockpit just about the size of a public telephone booth (do you even remember one?), with the pilots forced to wear oxygen tanks to breathe at high altitude and can sleep only for 20 minutes at a time.
But even with all these difficulties, some 19 Aviation World Records were broken/set - flight from Nagoya in Japan to Hawaii, US, lasted nearly 118 hours, with Borschberg breaking the record for longest (time duration) uninterrupted solo flight.
The tactic was to climb to higher altitude, as required or modelled for the leg, during day time when the solar cells are getting charged, and glide down slowly during the nights when the cells are not being charged. As can be seen in the Google Maps, the maximum altitudes of around 8400 - 8600 metres were attained during the long legs of 2 days or more.
The obvious question is why not climb even more higher, and why stop at around 8500 m (~27,800 ft)? Why not climb to 35,000 ft (~10650 m) like airplanes do, and glide even further?
The answer is the cabin is not pressurized, the temperature drop would be excessive (-65F / -53C), and the pilot had to resort to oxygen bottles to breath above 8000 m - the much ill famed 'death zone' in mountain climbing. A point to remember is skydivers making jumps from 15,000 ft (~4500 m) are required to carry oxygen on the way up, and above 23,000 ft (~7000 m) are required to carry oxygen both up and diving down. That's the reason Solar Impulse 2 kept to around 8600 m maximum altitude.
What about future? Personally I think it would be wonderful if Solar Impulse 3 attempts a similar circumnavigation in 8 legs, instead of 17, in 8 weeks. Take off from Abu Dhabi - Kolkata - Nanjing or Shanghai - Hawaii - California - Pennsylvania or New York or Boston - Seville - Cairo - Abu Dhabi.
So here is the full Flight Path (simplified) of Solar Impulse 2 in Google Maps, giving the details of airports landed, legs travelled, with distance, time, and maximum altitude attained during that leg.
Picture for pinning
The plane, with a wingspan wider than a Boeing 747 and carries more than 17,000 solar cells on its wings, began the circumnavigation on 09 Mar 2015 in Abu Dhabi. It has since crossed both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans using no fossil fuel and has spent 21 days in the air, chalking up a total of 43,109 km.
The aim of the Solar Impulse 2 adventure was not to demonstrate solar-powered planes for widespread use, but was more humble – to publicize the capabilities of renewable energy.
Piloted in turn by Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, the Solar Impulse 2 is not much heavier than a car, but has the wingspan of a Boeing 747, and has a cockpit just about the size of a public telephone booth (do you even remember one?), with the pilots forced to wear oxygen tanks to breathe at high altitude and can sleep only for 20 minutes at a time.
But even with all these difficulties, some 19 Aviation World Records were broken/set - flight from Nagoya in Japan to Hawaii, US, lasted nearly 118 hours, with Borschberg breaking the record for longest (time duration) uninterrupted solo flight.
The tactic was to climb to higher altitude, as required or modelled for the leg, during day time when the solar cells are getting charged, and glide down slowly during the nights when the cells are not being charged. As can be seen in the Google Maps, the maximum altitudes of around 8400 - 8600 metres were attained during the long legs of 2 days or more.
The obvious question is why not climb even more higher, and why stop at around 8500 m (~27,800 ft)? Why not climb to 35,000 ft (~10650 m) like airplanes do, and glide even further?
The answer is the cabin is not pressurized, the temperature drop would be excessive (-65F / -53C), and the pilot had to resort to oxygen bottles to breath above 8000 m - the much ill famed 'death zone' in mountain climbing. A point to remember is skydivers making jumps from 15,000 ft (~4500 m) are required to carry oxygen on the way up, and above 23,000 ft (~7000 m) are required to carry oxygen both up and diving down. That's the reason Solar Impulse 2 kept to around 8600 m maximum altitude.
What about future? Personally I think it would be wonderful if Solar Impulse 3 attempts a similar circumnavigation in 8 legs, instead of 17, in 8 weeks. Take off from Abu Dhabi - Kolkata - Nanjing or Shanghai - Hawaii - California - Pennsylvania or New York or Boston - Seville - Cairo - Abu Dhabi.
So here is the full Flight Path (simplified) of Solar Impulse 2 in Google Maps, giving the details of airports landed, legs travelled, with distance, time, and maximum altitude attained during that leg.
Picture for pinning
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