After Six years of design and development, Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg on friday June 26,2009 was unveiled their solar-powered aircraft, which designed to fly both day and night without the need for fuel and will begin test flights by Q4 this year.
Despite a wingspan equal to that of a Boeing 747-400, the Solar Impulse weighs only around 1.6 tons, about the same as an average car(1600Kg). More than 12,000 solar cells mounted on the wing supply renewable solar energy to the four 10HP electric motors. During the day, the solar panels charge the plane’s lithium polymer batteries(400Kg), allowing it to fly in the dark or at night.
The HB-SIA is the first Airplane prototype unit which using Solar Impulse project. Their mission is to demonstrate the feasibility of a complete day-night-day cycle propelled solely by solar energy. After smooth testing on the ground, the aircraft should make its first test flights between now and the end of 2009.
After this years end the test flight, A night flight is planned for 2010 to see if the plane can stay in the air for 36 hours, and after the lessons learned, its will help to develop and build a second aircraft, the HB-SIB,
with the aim of circumnavigating the world in five stages, each lasting several days, in 2012.
Tags: boeing 747, Electric Motors, solar impulse, solar powered, solar powered airplane
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