Solar Powered Plane Unveiled

This innovative plane has the wingspan of a boeing 747 but weighs less than a small car. But what is the difference between the Solar Impulse and the Boeign and a car? The Solar Impulse runs off of the power of the sun. The plane will take a number of test flights gathering data in order to build a new plane that will be able to cirlce to globe without using fuel by 2012. The budget of this project is estimated at 98 million dollars. The Solar impulse is powered by 12,000 solar panels and rechargeable lithium batteries, not using a single drop of fuel in flight. The panels and batteries allow the plane to fly both day and night.

The Solar Impulse has a huge task staring it in the face, a journey around the world. This task will be a tough one to overcome with an average flight speed of around 45 miles per hour. The world flight will consist of five stages. The solar plane technology is not a new one but this will be the first attempt to circumnavigate the world in a solar powered plane. The crew of the plane, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, face a great challenge but the success of this challenge could lead to some very interesting technologies in the future.

I feel that the success of this mission could lead to a greater focus on creating sustainable or lower emissions transportation by flight. As the information here suggests, a reasonable mode of transportation is far off but it also shows that it could be possible for the future.

What do you guys think of this? Comment.

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