World’s First Solar-Powered Plane Circles The Globe In Historic Flight

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In a boon for clean energy, the first round-the-world flight fueled only by solar power made history Tuesday, touching down in Abu Dhabi. The plane, called Solar Impulse 2, had amassed a 25,000-mile journey that began over a year ago.

The Swiss-engineered plane had made 16 stops across the world, using no fuel. The goal for the project was to prove that the plane’s clean technologies on the ground can “halve the world’s energy consumption, save natural resources, and improve quality of life.”

After landing the plane, the Boston Globe reported, pilot Bertrand Piccard was greeted outside the cockpit by his Solar Impulse partner and fellow pilot Andre Borschberg. They hugged and pumped their fists in the air.

Powered by 17,248 solar cells which transfer energy to four electrical motors that run its propellers, the Solar Impulse 2 runs on four lithium polymer batteries at night.

The plane’s wings, which stretch 236 feet, are designed to capture the sun’s energy.

Weighing about as much as a minivan, the plane tips the scales at around 5,070 pounds.

Upon landing, an exultant Piccard spoke through a microphone to cheers by a crowd that included Prince Albert of Monaco.

“The future is clean. The future is you. The future is now. Let’s take it further.”

To help steady it during takeoffs and landings, Bloomberg.com reported, the plane was guided by runners and bicyclists.

The Solar Impluse 2’s journey was riddled with complications, though not insurmountable, there are problems that need to be worked out.

The plane’s batteries were damaged during a flight from Japan to Hawaii. This glitch caused a nine-month delay in the journey. It was again delayed for over a week in Cairo when Piccard fell ill. The pilot’s illness added to the delay which began due to poor weather conditions.

Go @solarimpulse, 1st round-the-world solar flight, powered only by the sun https://t.co/eS6zEhfQ9m pic.twitter.com/ha4QenL3H5

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 26, 2016

Over its entire, sprawling mission, Solar Impluse 2 completed more than 500 flight hours. It cruised along at an average speed of between 28 mph and 56 mph.

The plane made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the U.S., Spain, Italy, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.

Its North American stops included California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.

The Solar Impulse 2, constructed of carbon fiber, is a single-seater aircraft. The two pilots, Piccard and Borschberg, had to take turns flying solo for long days and nights.

To keep the hours from being too taxing, and to manage their fatigue, Borschberg practiced yoga and Piccard self-hypnosis.

The travel was grueling. The pilots would rest a maximum of 20 minutes at a time, repeating the naps 12 times over each 24-hour stretch.

In a statement this week, Borschberg said that flying without fuel or polluting emissions is no longer a matter of debate.

“By flying around the world thanks to renewable energy and clean technologies, we have demonstrated that we can now make our world more energy efficient.”

It took 70 hours for Piccard to make the historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

Borschberg’s flight over the Pacific Ocean at 118 hours (five days and five nights) smashed the record for the longest flight duration by an aircraft flying solo.

Neither pilot was able to stand in the cockpit while flying. The seat reclined, and its cushion could be removed for access to a toilet. The equipment was rigged to warn the pilots if they dozed off and the plane stopped flying level, with flashing lights in their goggles and buzzing armbands.

Since the cockpit is not pressurized, Borschberg and Piccard could feel changes in temperature. Their blood oxygen levels were monitored, with results sent back to ground control in Monaco.

The wheels are blocked, the first round-the-world solar flight is now completed after 40’000 without fuel! pic.twitter.com/eFuuYdNJcl
— SOLAR IMPULSE (@solarimpulse) July 26, 2016

Piccard was forced to fly longer periods of time with an oxygen mask as he piloted the last leg of the trip over the hot Middle East, through thermals and turbulence, from Cairo to Abu Dhabi in roughly three nights and two days.

Piccard, a psychiatrist, is the son of undersea explorer Jacques Piccard and a grandson of balloonist Auguste Piccard.

In 1999, he became the first person to circumnavigate the globe non-stop in a hot air balloon.

Borschberg, an engineer and graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, launched the Solar Impulse project in 2003 with Piccard.

The project is cost more than $100 million. The flight was sponsored mainly by UAE-based Masdar, the Abu Dhabi government’s clean-energy company. The more than 40 additional sponsors included Omega, Belgian chemical company Solvay, Swedish-Swiss automation corporation ABB, Swiss manufacturer Schindler, Google, and Moet Hennessey, among others.

[Photo by Noah Berger/AP Images]