This is the kind of accomplishment that electrifies the imagination. A solar powered catamaran that looks like the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek has just completed a trip around the world . Planet Solar is the first boat ever to circumnavigate the globe with energy generated by solar panels atop the craft. The journey started in Monaco on September 27, 2010.
Some of their ports of call included Miami, Cancun, San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi before finally returning to Monaco yesterday.The purpose of project was to inform the public about the importance of sustainability and renewable energies. I’m not sure if they encounterd any unknown deep sea creatures, but PlanetSolar has an impressive group of supporters such as IMMOSOLAR, Candino Swiss Watch, SunPower and Jean Verne, Great-Grandson of the writer, Jules Verne who wrote about the mission early on said, ” In the spirit of the PlanetSolar project that calls upon scientists, technicians, industries, financiers and scholars who are working together on an “extraordinary voyage into known and unknown worlds.
PlanetSolar catamaran (without flaps) boosts 31m in length, 16m in width, and approximately 540 square meters of solar panels as the solar generator. The specially developed energy storage should permit the boat to move for approximately 3 days and nights without sunlight. The MSTÛRANOR PlanetSolar was designed by the extraordinary designer and constructor Craig Loomes and his company LOMOcean (New Zealand). It has been built by high-performance yacht builder Knierim, based in Kiel (Germany). The boat is navigated under the Swiss flag.