The Solar Impulse team has had a busy week in the U.S., but that hasn’t included the ’round-the-world flight they had hoped for by now. Instead, co-founders Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg have been meeting with government agencies, politicians and benefactors in hopes of setting up a California to New York flight with their solar-powered airplane, slated to take place next year.
The Switzerland-based team has the support of the Swiss government, and Ambassador Manuel Sager said the mountain nation is ready to help make the trans-continental U.S. flight possible.
“Switzerland is very proud to be a partner in the next endeavor of Solar Impulse,” Ambassador Sager said at an embassy event in Washington, D.C. “As a country we share the values of the project: technological innovation, competence and entrepreneurial expertise.”
The Solar Impulse team said they are excited to complete a flight in the birth nation of aviation. There aren’t a lot of details being released just yet, though they hope to make the flight in “early summer of 2013.”
Solar Impulse co-founders and pilots Piccard and Borschberg have flown their first airplane, HB-SIA, on several occasions since the first hop three years ago. Since 2009 they have flown the aircraft for a full day/night, 24+ hour cycle, and an intercontinental flight between Europe and Africa (pictured above).
The airplane has a wingspan of over 200 feet (more than a Boeing 787), but weighs about the same as a standard SUV. It has four, ten-horsepower electric motors that are powered by batteries and the solar cells that cover the top of the wings. With a cruise speed of 60-70 miles per hour, and just one seat, it’s not meant as rapid transportation.
They eventually plan to make an around-the-world flight using an updated, and larger solar powered airplane known as HB-SIB. The new model will have a roomier, pressurized cockpit allowing the pilot to nap, and will have a wingspan of more than 260 feet.
The team originally had hoped to make an around-the-world flight by 2013, but they are currently hoping for a 2015 flight. HB-SIB is currently under construction at Solar Impulse headquarters in Switzerland.
Swiss Team Plans Solar-Powered Flight From California to New York
This article
Swiss Team Plans Solar-Powered Flight From California to New York
can be opened in url
http://newsneatness.blogspot.com/2012/12/swiss-team-plans-solar-powered-flight.html
Swiss Team Plans Solar-Powered Flight From California to New York
