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Solar-Powered Airplane Completes First International Flight

Posted by samzenpus on from the icarus-airlines dept.

liqs8143 writes "Solar Impulse, a fully solar-powered airplane, has completed its first international solar-powered flight. After a flight lasting 12 hours 59 minutes at an altitude of 12,400 feet, using no fuel and propelled by solar energy alone, Solar Impulse HB-SIA landed safely in Brussels, Switzerland. After the landing, company co-founder Bertrand Piccard said, 'Our goal is to create a revolution in the minds of the people . . . to promote solar energies — not necessarily a revolution in aviation.' Compared with 2003, energy efficiency has increased from 16 to 22 percent. And the cells are now half as thick. The project has a total cost of $88 million, which is funded by mostly-Swiss partners and public donations."

6 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Re:'International' Flight? by BeaverCleaver · · Score: 3, Informative

    Switzerland to Belgium. So it wasn't just a hop across an adjacent border. And, as the summary says, they were in the air for almost 13 hours.

    --
    sustainable living
  2. Re:'International' Flight? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    If they had a helicopter that hovered for 13 hours at such a low speed it would be even more impressive.

    What, like a party balloon?

  3. Not Impressed by android.dreamer · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm not impressed. Solar planes have been in existence for a while. http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/technologies/solarFarm.html I really won't be impressed until it can carry cargo or passengers.

  4. Payerne (SZ) via Nancy (FR) to Brussels (BE) by theNAM666 · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Payerne (SZ) via Nancy (FR) to Brussels (BE) by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 3, Informative

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

      And yet if you remove the superfluous punctuation from your Wikipedia search you find that SZ is the "the NATO country code for Switzerland". Swaziland would then be WZ in that system.

    2. Re:Payerne (SZ) via Nancy (FR) to Brussels (BE) by Chrisje · · Score: 1, Informative

      Yeah, and we all live by NATO codes here on the continent. Right?

      I would sooner point to the ISO3166 standard for country codes. There, Switzerland is still CH.

      Having said that, ISO3166 doesn't quite match the vehicle codes used on the road.

      I tend to look at the license plates on cars, where CH is Switzerland, but France would be F and Belgium would be B.

      Here is a list of both the vehicle codes and the ISO3166 codes:
      http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landcodes_voor_voertuigen

      Oh, and by the way: Swaziland is SD respectively SZ. The NATO can kiss my ass.