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Your Points... #1. Fuel efficiency - The Lupo 3l, a Real world 78mpg, vs the model Ts reported 13-21... Yes I would say we are doing much better. Also considering that we have even made a plane that can fly around the world on NO fossil fuels of any kind. #2 Cheap Space Travel - Nobody said taking the entire environment of the Earth with you in simulated fashion was going to be cheap, or easy... That certainly does NOT mean we have made no discovery or achievement in space and exploration. Just the opposite. We are exploring FAR more of the observable universe than we EVER have, and the new wide field telescope is soon to completely change the way we look at the stars in the night sky and observable universe at large. #3 CPU Speed Plateau - Mostly correct, however, parallel computing and quantum computing are already changing the game. Making engineers think and program in radically new ways. The tides of change do ebb and flow. That does NOT mean they have some how halted. The laws of physics used to be something we could ONLY theorize, as we believed there was no real tangible way to TEST those theories. The LHC and CERN have shown us that this is not so. Same goes for the Photon and Graviton. Major Accomplishments in the modern era that change our understanding of physics on a "Daily" basis... So, yes and no... #4. Transportation speeds in the past 50-60 years in Both Air and Land Speed have BOTH had their bar raised MUCH higher than what was possible 50-60 years ago... By nearly 1000MPH in the Air since 1957, and around 360MPH on the Land in roughly the same timeframe.. So #4 is just plain False :-) New technologies do not "STOP" improving because a limit of physics has been hit... We simply start thinking in 3 dimensions or in radically new ways that the earth has never seen. Its all in the history books my friend. The Limitations of Physics are only limitations, because we do not yet fully understand the forces that created this Universe. But that too, is RAPIDLY changing. The Fields of Physics and Cosmology are discovering new tangible real world methods to verify the theory and turn it into facts we can work with. These perceived limitations are the result of a closed mind, not rooted in science. There are no limitations, just things we do not yet understand. Your knowledge of history is also lacking... Maybe Do your homework before trolling next time. K Anonymous? :-P Sources: http://www.motortrend.com/news... - - http://www.solarimpulse.com/ad... - http://www.gutenberg.cc/articl... - http://www.landspeedrecord.org...

Is no on paying attention? http://www.solarimpulse.com/

A variety of people have been working on solar airplanes that collect sufficient energy during the daylight hours that, through a combination of electrical storage (batteries, reversible fuel cells, etc.) and mechanical storage (going to higher altitude during the day, then losing some at night) you can provide continuous operation. This isn't a new idea, and practical realizations of it are tantalizingly close.

This article is about a night flight dine by Solar Impulse. Though they do not say it, I bet they started with 100% battery power. Here are a few interesting excerpts from the article.

. He remained at this altitude until about noon, flying backwards and forwards along the Jura mountain chain.

I am a glider pilot and this indicates that he is using ridge lift or mountain wave to stay alloft and/or gain altitude. Both are standard sailplane tactics.

After 14 ½ hours of flying, at 9:30pm, André Borschberg switched off the solar generator

Around midnight, the aircraft was at 4’500 feet, slightly less than 1’500 m, the altitude it needed to maintain until sunrise.

At 5:46am, on July 8, HB-SIA became the first solar-powered airplane to successfully complete a night flight.

By validating the fact that the HB-SIA had returned with a 54% charge level in its batteries,

So the aircraft consumed 46% of it's charge in about 5 hours and 46 minutes. Night was about 8 hours long. So they have proven that under controlled conditions with a very long day and a very short night the aircraft can fly overnight. Considering the sailplane record is 56 hours 15 Minutes, I am not impressed. It is still a toy with no practical application.

the hindenburg blew up. the spruce goose barely got off the water. the first flight was baling wire and balsa wood. nice examples

i have no doubt, zero doubt that solar aircraft work. there are in fact many already existing, one going around the globe:

http://solarimpulse.com/

nice flimsy thing that picture

the topic under discussion is an AIRLINER. you know: hundreds of people, all their luggage. getting their fast. night flights. cloudy days. windy days

i think we will, eventually, make something strong and light enough to hold up enough solar panels and survive the weather. we aren't their yet. and then all theoretical limitations bow down to the simple fact of solar energy density. the size of the thing! and do we need to design airports with miles of flat runway, NEXT TO a major city destination ($$$), perfectly flat too ($$$), in order to get the giant thing off the ground? and then wait for the damn thing after coasting for miles to finally creak off the ground while people look mournfully out the window at the far far cheaper and faster rail service that would have gotten to their destination faster?

just think dude

such that if you want to fly an airplane on solar, you make BIOFUELS, and use them anytime, and use existing aircraft design (speedy, compact)

Here, here! and lightweight batteries/storage devices or some sort of beamed power rather than trying to directly solar power a plane. Great for adventurers, bad for regular humans.

It can actually fly all night without interruption and then recharge batteries during the next day for the night after that: http://www.solarimpulse.com/blog/2010/07/08/keep-the-spirit-alive/ and http://www.gizmag.com/solar-impulse-aircraft-night-flight/15663/ (and obviously, the aim of this first prototype is to be a proof-of-concept and to carry a message, not compete with commercial airlines!)

Actual flight path in title. Approx 660km @ 50km / hr, with cleared airspace due to special needs.

See http://www.solarimpulse.com/blog/2011/05/13/all-lights-at-green/

Herzliche Glückwünsche to the team.

SZ? Wow, Swaziland to Belgium is quite a hike.
Switzerland is .ch .

Actual flight path in title. Approx 660km @ 50km / hr, with cleared airspace due to special needs. See http://www.solarimpulse.com/blog/2011/05/13/all-lights-at-green/ Herzliche Glückwünsche to the team.

Check out http://www.solarimpulse.com/nightFlights/charts.php. Notice that it took 6.5 hours to go from 46% charge to 100%charge. By extrapolation it should take about 12 hours to get a full charge though that may not be true as the solar cell efficiency seems to decrease as the cells cool below 0 degrees. Here are a few other interesting points from the graph.

1. They need a more accurate speed and altitude sensor. There are quite a few spikes in the charts. Some of them have "disappeared". They were probably fixed in the data by averaging.
2. They started with the battery 69% charged.
3. The low point in battery level was 46%
4. It took 7.5 hours to get to full charge.
5. When air temp decreased below 0 the efficiency of the solar cells also decreased dramatically.
6. For a 2.5 hour period when the engine power was at 4% with 0% solar charging the battery charge did not decrease; strange.
7. When the battery was used, it drained at about 10% per hour.
8. The airspeed was about 23kmph most of the time. That is probably the minimum sink speed for the aircraft.

Now that the flight is over, lets take a look at a few of the numbers from http://www.solarimpulse.com/nightFlights/charts.php.

1. They need a more accurate speed and altitude sensor. There are quite a few spikes in the charts. Some of them have "disappeared". They were probably fixed in the data by averaging.
2. They started with the battery 69% charged.
3. The low point in battery level was 46%
4. It took 7.5 hours to get to full charge.
5. When air temp decreased below 0 the efficiency of the solar cells also decreased dramatically.
6. For a 2.5 hour period when the engine power was at 4% with 0% solar charging the battery charge did not decrease; strange.
7. When the battery was used, it drained at about 10% per hour.
8. The airspeed was about 23kmph most of the time.

Look at the real time charts. By "real time" I mean what altitude, power and speed are NOW
How cool is that!

I'm not assuming, I'm trusting what the builders/designers state:

http://www.solarimpulse.com/en/documents/challenge_gamble.php?lang=en&group=challenge

You didn't look very hard, did you?

TECHNCIAL DATASHEET
Wingspan: 63,40 m
Length: 21,85 m
Height: 6,40 m
Weight: 1 600 Kg
Motor power: 4 x 10 HP electric engines
Solar cells: 11 628 (10 748 on the wing, 880 on the horizontal stabilizer)
Average flying speed: 70 km/h
Take-off speed: 35 km/h
Maximum altitude: 8 500 m (27 900 ft)

http://www.solarimpulse.com/en/documents/challenge_solar.php?lang=en&group=challenge

Interesting that on their web site the wingspan is 63,40 m but mass is 1 600 Kg. I suppose they can afford less confusion with the mass of their aircraft.

The technology for this does not exist yet, but it will very soon. Look at the solar impulse aircraft, for example, that is going to attempt to fly around the world on solar power. It stores up electricity during the day so that it can fly through the night. Combine this thing with UAV technology and you have your 24/7 camera surveillance.

Another solution that pop into my mind are balloons that are tethered to the ground.

As WARM3CH mentioned, Piccard is anything but "another billionaire".

As we can read on their website, the goal of their project is: In a world depending on fossil energies, the Solar Impulse project [...] aims to have an airplane take off and fly autonomously, day and night, propelled uniquely by solar energy .

Please also have a look at: http://www.solarimpulse.com/en/documents/finance.php?lang=en&group=partner