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Solar Plane To Make Public Debut

Posted by kdawson on from the blackbird-flying-in-the-dead-of-night dept.

vigmeister writes "Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard has unveiled a prototype of the solar-powered plane he hopes eventually to fly around the world. The initial version, spanning 61m but weighing just 1,500kg, will undergo trials to prove it can fly at night. Dr. Piccard, who made history by circling the globe non-stop in a balloon in 1999, says he wants to demonstrate the potential of renewable energies. He expects to make a crossing of the Atlantic in 2012. The HB-SIA has the look of a glider but is on the scale of a modern airliner. The airplane incorporates composite materials to keep it extremely light and uses super-efficient solar cells, batteries, motors, and propellers to get it through the dark hours. The public unveiling on Friday of the HB-SIA took place at Dubendorf airfield near Zürich."

7 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Making it so... by Tau+Neutrino · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh wait, wrong Picard.

    --
    Lemmings are silly; dinosaurs are extinct.
  2. Helios by Blixinator · · Score: 5, Informative

    Reminds me of the Helios project back in 2001. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010831.html

    --
    "The Y chromosome is genetic. The odds are very good that if you are male then your father was too." -Internet Commenter
    1. Re:Helios by blind+biker · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Great reference, thank you!

      The Helios is an amazing technological feat: it reached an altitude of about 30 Km, which is the highest a non-rocket aircraft has ever achieved. And due to its propellent being unexhaustable, it could, conceivably, stay in the air forever, provided that it climbs high enough during sun-time.

      The Helios is stuff I'd like to see more development in.

      --
      "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  3. Don't take the red-eye! by motherpusbucket · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm just sayin'
    The battery thing for dark hours makes me nervous.

    --
    "You can't really dust for vomit" --Nigel Tufnel
  4. Autopilot? by wjousts · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From the article:

    "The aeroplane could do it theoretically non-stop - but not the pilot," said Dr Piccard.

    ""In a balloon you can sleep, because it stays in the air even if you sleep. We believe the maximum for one pilot is five days."

    Seems autopilot should be the least complicated part of this endeavor, especially considering that there have already been several unmanned solar powered aircraft demonstrated already. Turn on the autopilot and catch some Z's.

  5. Re:They solved the night flying problem nicely by bencoder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Actually that might work... Sails on boats work like wings, that's how it's possible to sail upwind.

    If the sail was positioned at 90 degrees and then the fan blew across the front of it, you'd create the Bernoulli effect, with the lower pressure air behind the sail pushing you forward. Of course in the configuration in the cartoon I expect Wile E. was just blowing it from behind, in which case it wouldn't work at all.

  6. Why? by This+name+in+use · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just asking, but isn't this just an ego-boosting stunt for another billionaire?

    My God, an airliner-sized plane that costs millions of dollars and carries a single passenger at nearly the speed of a moped!
    Now we all just need millions of dollars, a large runway for every home, parking for them wherever we want to go, and we'll finally break out of those nasty fossile fuel addictions.

    I'm not trying to be a hater, but it seems like they are pouring way too much into this to get too little to be that impressive.
    Please don't ruin my life, Monsieur Piccard.