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May 5, 2022 · Solar Impulse 2 circumnavigated the Earth without using a drop of fuel. Now, Skydweller Aero aims to use the plane to create the world’s first commercially viable “pseudo-satellite.” CNN ...
- Jacopo Prisco
- Overview
- “Impressive” Achievement
- An Electrifying Flight
Completing the first trip around the world exclusively on solar power, the experimental Solar Impulse shows what’s possible in energy and flight.
The Solar Impulse 2 concluded its journey Monday, becoming the first aircraft to circumnavigate the globe without a drop of liquid fuel. And while we won’t be boarding sun-powered commuter flights anytime soon, the solar plane’s feat does point toward the future of energy.
Pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg made the trip during 17 months, stopping in 17 cities. Sun power propelled them across approximately 26,718 miles (43,000 kilometers). Their landing in Abu Dhabi happened one day after the birthday of Amelia Earhart, who became the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic in 1932.
The historic flights join earlier ones by Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, and other pioneers—but Solar Impulse was always more about energy than aviation.
The Solar Impulse assembled a number of technically advanced components in a way that wouldn’t have been possible years ago, says Craig Steeves, associate director of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies.
“I certainly think it’s a pretty impressive technical achievement,” he says. “They’re pretty far ahead on a path that the aerospace industry would like to go.”
That said, solar-powered commercial air travel at the capacity and speeds we expect isn’t feasible, “certainly not in my lifetime,” Steeves says. Solar Impulse can only carry one person—the pilot—and travels at about the speed of a car, 46 miles per hour (75 kilometers per hour) on average. (Learn about the secrets of the flights.)
“A lot of what they're demonstrating,” Steeves says, “is probably going to be relevant to earth-bound applications before it becomes important to flight.”
Indeed, the plane’s lightweight materials and other components could be used on the road and the power grid. Its super-efficient engine ran on electricity generated from 17,248 solar cells. Special, energy-dense batteries stored sun power so the plane could fly at night.
“Solar Impulse has proved that a 24-hour electrical system, powered exclusively by renewables, is possible,” says Conor Lennon, manager of special projects with ABB, which makes electric transformers, EV charging stations, and other power technology.
Masdar, the sustainability testing ground located in Solar Impulse’s beginning and ending destination, also supported the journey. “In Abu Dhabi, you can feel the excitement surrounding Solar Impulse,” says Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi. “Being the host city is a source of tremendous national pride.”
In particular, Al Ramahi says, the plane’s 118-hour flight over the Pacific Ocean “shattered the myth that solar energy captured by PV panels can’t be stored and utilized at night.”
Here again is where Solar Impulse stands for advances that will more likely appear first on the ground, as power plants look to introduce more renewable energy onto the grid while balancing the intermittent nature of the sun and wind.
“We are working to crack the code on how to make solar a baseload provider of energy,” Al Ramahi says.
The plane’s efficient engine can serve as a model for other motors, the Solar Impulse team notes, while its lightweight, extra potent LED lighting and insulation can be used in housing. Its sensors and data-collecting tools, meanwhile, could help inform other types of energy management systems.
And while much of the tech aboard the Solar Impulse may be better employed on the ground for now, the aviation industry is working on similar light materials, smarter controls and other efficiency improvements.
- Christina Nunez
People also ask
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Jun 20, 2016 · The aircraft took off Monday from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in the first attempt to fly a solar-powered aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. Video Ad Feedback. Solar...
Jan 31, 2018 · After 14 months of travel and 550 hours in the air, the plane had accomplished what many had deemed impossible: traveling 25,000 miles around the world—over four continents, two oceans and three...
Solar Impulse - Around the World to Promote Clean Technologies. An Idea born in Switzerland. Our adventure. In 2015 started the attempt of the First Round-The-World Solar Flight, from Abu Dhabi to Hawaii, already achieving the longest solo solar flight ever achieved in aviation history.
Jul 7, 2010 · The plane is solar-powered, but it will fly all night. How does that work? The plane’s approximately 12,000 photovoltaic cells soak in the sun’s rays from 7 a.m. until sunset about 15 hours later (sunset, according to the Solar Impulse site, is at 22:00).
Jul 5, 2015 · A solar-powered airplane currently soaring over the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Hawaii, has set a slew of new world records, logging the farthest and longest flights made so far in a...
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