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The man-machine interface: Because of its large size and low cruising speed, the SolarImpulse will be a particularly delicate aircraft to manoeuvre. A new device is being developed to provide the pilot with much more detailed parameters than are available today on classical aeroplanes. This information may be perceived using senses other than sight and hearing.

If you want the links in english instead of having to click on the little EN..

http://www.solar-impulse.com/scripts/page7655.html

http://www.planetsolar.org/planetsolar.en.shtml

The Solar Impulse Project: a round-the-world trip on a solar powered airplane

http://www.solar-impulse.com/en/index.php
http://solar-impulse.epfl.ch/
http://iacs.epfl.ch/cmcs/Solar_Impulse.php3

Actually, not only has a solo circumglobal flight been done before, Fossett was the one who did it, albeit in a balloon.

But without a person in the cockpit, the venture won't get much media attention. And without media attention, the project won't attract much sponsorship. ..... SIGH!

Exactly.

And being the "person in the cockpit", and attracting sponsorship is what the latest Piccard seems to be good at.

And he is nicely grateful to his sponsors too. On the contacts page of the site, the link to his own site (www.bertrandpiccard.com) actually points to his sponsors (www.breitling.com)! Whether it is accidental, intentional, or a nice meaning-ladden lapsus is open to speculations :-)

In different times, the scientist could end up getting the media's attention, but now the work has been "Taylorized": one does the acting, and others do the real (ineteresting but not so media-flashy) work. In this case, it's the Lausanne university. In his previous achievement, it was mainly meteorologists sitting in front of boring computer screens.

Nevertheless, the project sounds exciting.

Looking at the Project Website linked in the article, the scope of the project is as follows. This is a long-term project, and each stage will provide outstandingly interesting communication opportunities for sustainable development: Announcement of the project on 28 th November 2003 ; Design and construction of the first prototype in 2004-2005; First flight tests of the first prototype early in 2006; Complete night in the air during the first 36 hour solar flight in June 2007; First flight tests of the second prototype from end 2007; Solar flights lasting several days from start of 2009. I'm on the University of Minnesota's Solar Vehicle Project team. The major concern with projects like these is not in running under total sunlight conditions, since most solar arrays would be able to run with the necessary efficiency. However, their mission is to be able to store power and fly at night, much as ours is to be able to "rayce" in any conditions.

If you had clicked the article link, you'd see a picture of it flying at dusk, right on the front page!.

Also from the press release

The Solar Impulse aircraft will have an extremely long wingspan, advanced aerodynamics, and a revolutionary structure in order to capture and store sufficient solar energy during the day and to be able to maintain itself in flight during the night.

a link without the stupid animation here