The Experimental solar-powered aircraft, the Solar Impulse 2, which made history last year as the only plane to have traveled for more than 7,000 km in the sky without fuel, is preparing to take-off once again.
The Solar Impulse is a private project financed by Swiss engineer and businessman André Borschberg, and Swiss psychiatrist and aeronaut Bertrand Piccard. The two men aim to be the first to circumnavigate the earth with a fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power.
If the mission becomes successful, it will prove that clean energy is possible in the aviation industry, opening a complete new opportunity for the future. The project has the backing of some world leaders.
In their attempt to achieve their ambitious aim, in March 2015, Piccard and Borschberg began to fly their Solar Impulse 2 plane. They departed from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, hoping to circumnavigate the earth back to where they started to fly.
In July 2015, the plane completed its longest journey, flying from the Japanese port city of Nagoya to the city of Kapolei, in Hawaii, United States. The plane traveled 7,212 km in five days nonstop, from Japan to Hawaii.
After landing in Hawaii, the aircraft’s batteries experienced thermal damage, and engineers had to work on it to continue the mission. For almost nine months now, engineers have been working around the clock to restore the capacity of the batteries. About 13 maintenance and repairs have been carried out on other parts of the plane, to get it back into working order for the rest of its journey.
As it stands now, the Solar Impulse 2 has five journeys to make before completing its mission. The difficult journey, they say, was the Pacific crossing from Japan to Hawaii.
In early April, the plane started a series of test flights in Hawaii. Engineers have now announced that all is well with the batteries, and that the amazing plane is just waiting for the right weather conditions before taking off once again. Engineers have cleared the plane for the pilots.
The two pilots, Borschberg and Piccard said in a statement that their trip is about more than breaking records. They believed that it is about showing what we can use clean energy to achieve.
Piccard was quoted as saying “The primary purpose of this adventure is to demonstrate that modern clean technologies can achieve the impossible and encourage everyone to use these same energy efficient solutions on the ground in their daily lives for mobility, construction, lighting, heating, cooling and more.”
Borschberg said the challenges they are facing in the mission are turning out to be opportunities for improvement, adding that the flying team now has the strong mindset to continue their mission in their quest to develop new technologies for the future.
Borschberg and Piccard began their Solar Impulse project way back in 2003. They first conducted a feasibility study at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.
Around 2004 to 2005, they started the development of their concept. By 2009, they had assembled a multi-disciplinary team of 50 engineers and technical specialists from six countries, assisted by about 100 outside advisers and 80 technological partners. The first prototype of the plane named Solar Impulse 1 was built in that same year. It started a series of flying tests.
In 2013, engineers completed a second prototype, the Solar Impulse 2, which is now being used to circumnavigate around the world.
So far, the project has cost about €150 million. In late 2015, people donated €20 million to help the plane to continue its ambitious mission around.
You want to support Anonymous Independent & Investigative News? Please, follow us on Twitter: Follow @AnonymousNewsHQ
This article (Clean Energy for the Future: Solar-Powered Plane Prepares to Take-Off after Nine Months on the Ground) is a free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and AnonHQ.com.
