3/22/2023 0 Comments Impulsive force fighter![]() ![]() While it could be decades, at least, before ordinary travelers line up to board solar electric planes, the technology is under consideration for drones, which risk damage each time they land to refuel.Īnother venture’s solar electric plane, which seats two and could one day find a place in the sport aviation market, made its debut last week in Germany. Barnum thrown in - the project has more practical implications. His brainchild, the Solar Impulse, will not be the first sun-powered plane to fly its chief distinction is its ability to go through the night.Ĭonceived of as a grand demonstration of what can be done with clean technologies - a Jules Verne-style adventure with a dash of P. But when a propane shortage nearly ended his record-setting ride in 1999, he began dreaming of a way to fly day and night without fuel, an idea that has reached fruition in a featherweight solar airplane set for an initial voyage across the United States starting on Friday, weather permitting. He went on to become part of the team that was first to circumnavigate the globe nonstop in a balloon. “I thought this was the normal way to live and I was very disappointed to see that there are a lot of people who are afraid of the unknown, afraid of the doubts, afraid of the question marks.” Piccard, a psychiatrist trained in hypnosis, said last week at Moffett Field at the NASA Ames Research Center here, preparing for his next expedition. “All the most incredible things seemed to be completely normal,” Mr. His father, an engineer, helped design the submarine that made him and an American naval officer the first to plunge undersea to the earth’s crust. ![]() His grandfather, a physicist and friend of Albert Einstein and Marie Curie, had invented a special capsule so he and a partner could be first to reach the stratosphere in a balloon. When Bertrand Piccard was growing up in Switzerland, heady discussions about the boundless potential for human endeavor were standard fare. Cross-Country Solar Plane Expedition Set for Takeoff Here's what the New York Times reported prior to the recent flight. "From the very start of the project, we understood that our primary goal was to save energy.” The Solar Impulse's ambition is for the world of exploration and innovation to contribute to the cause of renewable energies and to demonstrate the importance of clean technologies for sustainable development. “A flying laboratory for clean technologies, this prototype is the result of seven years of intense work in the fields of materials science, energy management and man-machine interface," added Borschberg. “Our airplane is not designed to carry passengers but to carry a message,” says Piccard. While the potential for future air vehicle applications (planes, drones, communications transmitters etc.) is considerable, Borschberg and Piccard have much broader horizons. The second leg is not yet scheduled, but the team is looking for an optimum weather window expected sometime after May 20. MST - 18-hours later - at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport. He started just after sunrise on Friday, May 3, from Moffett Field in California's San Francisco Bay Area and landed at 12:30 a.m. Piccard piloted the first 650-mile leg of the adventure. Louis, Washington DC and finally landing at JFK Airport in New York sometime in July. Since the plane can carry only one pilot at a time, Piccard and former Swiss Air Force fighter pilot Andre Borschberg will take turns flying the five-leg transcontinental trip stopping in Phoenix Dallas, St. Piccard has his mind set on an around the world flight in 2015. “Theoretically, the plane can fly forever,” he says. The plane’s four, ten-horsepower engines are 94 percent efficient, says Piccard, and its fuselage is made from carbon fiber sheets three times thinner than paper. It has a 208-foot wing wingspan that's larger than a 747's, weighs as much as a Honda CR-V, and it's covered with 12,000 solar panels as thin as a human hair. ![]() The Swiss-built Solar Impulse with a 43 mph top speed, is constructed from revolutionary lightweight materials. ![]()
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