1st ROUND-THE-WORLD SOLAR FLIGHT
WOW. They done it with the Solar Impulse, a solar powered aircraft.
*The Solar Impulse project’s goals were to make **the first circumnavigation of the Earth** by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using **only solar power*** and to bring attention to clean technologies.
Man, the message is simple
clean technologies can change the world.
If an airplane can fly day and night without fuel, everybody could use these same technologies on the ground to halve our world’s energy consumption, save natural resources and improve our quality of life.
Anyway, the technical specifications are the most impressive things here. Just take a look.
- for a Length of 21.85 m it has a Wingspan of 63.4 m (that’s a wingspan similar to that of the Airbus A340 airliner !)
- photovoltaic cells rated at 45 kW peak and only for 200 m2. 200 m2 !
- Powerplant: 4 × electric motors (7.5 kW (10 HP) each)
- Take-off speed: 35 kilometres per hour (22 mph) !
Wait ! These are the specs for Solar Impulse 1. The second aircraft is much better. Hahaha !
Yes, the journey (approximately 42,000 kilometer) was over a period of more than 16 months.
Great work, Switzerland. Great work. I also like your watches. :P
Chapeau, guys !
#future #engineers #environment #futureisclean #changetheworld