Solar Powered plane prepares for cross country flight

Solar Impulse HB-SIA

The unusual aircraft called Solar Impulse HB-SIA a solar-powered, battery-equipped aircraft sat on a California runway as its energy source rose in the east.


Andre Borschberg, who designed and built Solar Impulse with fellow pilot Bertrand Piccard. 

The average power available to the airplane is just about that of a typical scooter, meaning that the inventiveness and feats of engineering which allow this plane to fly are pretty incredible. More than 80 companies partnered on the project to tackle the challenges of solar- and battery-powered flight, in areas including chemical, electrical, and materials technologies

The aircraft has the same wingspan as a 747 but a cockpit barely big enough for one person. It weighs only as much as a midsize car. The aircraft is sensitive to turbulence and has to fly in good weather. So, of course, it's not yet the possibility of carrying 200 passengers at the speed of sound.

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA is an oversized machine in relation to its weight, with a wingspan of 63.4 meters and a weight of 1,600 kilos. The ultra-thin photovoltaic cells from Sunpower atop the wings are just 150 microns thick. Some 12,000 of the mono-crystalline silicons photovoltaic cells cover the wings. Each motor has a maximum power of 10 horsepower, with a gearbox reducing the rotation of each 3.5-meter-diameter twin-blade propeller to 200 to 400 rpm. It cruises at only 30 miles an hour, though in a strong wind, it may stand still or even fly backward


The plane has already flown over the Alps in Switzerland where it was built. It has even flown over Morocco at night on batteries recharged by the sun.The test flight over San Francisco Bay lasted 16 hours long after the sun had set.  

Solar Impulse flight Video (Click here to see)

It is nice to know that the more and more people and organizations are moving towards creating and using sustainable technologies to reduce carbon footprint which is indeed useful for mankind

Please give you comments on such kind of technological experiments...

Till then
Cheers...