The long range solar powered Solar Impulse 2 aircraft successfully completed its maiden flight on Monday, from Payerne airfield, Switzerla...
The long range solar powered Solar Impulse 2 aircraft successfully completed its maiden flight on Monday, from Payerne airfield, Switzerland.
The 2 hour flight was flown by test pilot Markus Scherdel, who also piloted the first flight of its predessor Solar Impulse 1 in 2009.
The project aims to conduct the first circumnavigation of globe by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power.
The slightly larger follow-on design Solar Impulse 2 is planned to make the circumnavigation over a course of about five months in 2015.
It is powered by 17,248 solar cells spread across its wings and fuselage, which drive four 17.4 hp brushless electric motors at speeds of up to 140km/h.
Solar Impulse 2 has a wingspan of a 72 metres, slightly larger than the Airbus A380 airliner and weighs just 2300 kgs, less than 1 per cent the weight of the super jumbo.
The aircraft features a larger, non-pressurized cockpit and advanced avionics including autopilot to allow for multi-day transcontinental and trans-oceanic flights and can cruise at an altitude of 12 kms.
Construction of the Solar Impulse 2, which was revealed in April 2014, began in 2011.
Following a structural failure of the main spar during static tests in July 2012, the intial circumnavigation date in 2014 was rescheduled to 2015.
More: www.solarimpulse.com
