As reported here back in 2010 and in 2011 the Solar Impulse is a plane worth keeping your eye on. Yahoo News is reporting that Solar Impulse took of this morning on it’s 1,554-mile journey to Morocco. The objective of the Solar Impulse is to demonstrate what we can do with existing technology in terms of renewable energy and energy savings,” project co-founder and pilot Andre Borschberg said last year.
A solar energy plane made the world’s first international flight powered by the sun yesterday to show the potential for pollution-free air travel. “The objective is to demonstrate what we can do with existing technology in terms of renewable energy and energy savings,” project co-founder and pilot Andre Borschberg said. Borschberg believes such solar-harnessing technology can be used to power cars and homes. “It is symbolic to be able to go from one place to another using solar energy,” The Solar Impulse project began in 2003 with a 10-year budget of 90 million euros and has involved engineers from Swiss lift maker Schindler and research aid from Belgian chemicals group Solvay. San Francisco solar company SunPower announced it is providing solar cells to the Solar Impulse project which requires 12,000 solar cells.
With an average flying speed of 70 km/h, Solar Impulse is not an immediate threat to commercial jets, which can easily cruise at more than 10 times the speed. Project leaders acknowledged it had been a major challenge to fit a slow-flying plane into the commercial air traffic system. This is the first transcontinental flight for the aircraft which is expected to the city of Rabat next week. A larger prototype is scheduled to fly around the world in 2013.