Solar Impulse Airplane To Launch First Sun-Powered Flight Across America

First time accepted submitter markboyer writes "The Solar Impulse just landed at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California to announce a journey that will take it from San Francisco to New York without using a single drop of fuel. The 'Across America' tour will kick off this May when founders Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg take off from San Francisco. From there the plane will visit four cities across the states before landing in New York."

Comments

Re:Wonderful, but see it for what it is

[SJHillman]

Actually, it seems like space would be the limit unless they give it a solar powered ion thruster. The ground is another limit, in the other direction... and unlike space, the ground is a much more... solid limit.

The good thing is...

[theillien]

...since the plane doesn't have fuel it can't crash and burn. It can only crash.

Re:Wonderful, but see it for what it is

[PopeRatzo]

Even with fantasy efficiency, there's no mass-to-surface-area that could make this a commercially viable form of transport, ever. It's a beautiful folly, and an impressive exercise in materials science, and should be enjoyed on that basis. The PV aspect is essentially a gimmick though.

I agree that we have reached the limits of technology. There will be no future innovation. The endpoint of humanities social and cultural evolution was yesterday.

And it's fossil fuels from here on in.