The prototype Solar Impulse flew for the first time on 3 December 2009. At least it briefly left the ground under its own power. After six years in design, development the aim of building a solar powered plane to circumnavigate the world is one step closer.
The thing that sets the Solar Impulse apart from the other solar powered plane projects is that it carries batteries that are charged from the sun during the day to enable it to fly at night. This means that during the day the solar panels not only have to provide sufficient power to fly the aircraft but also charge the batteries for night flying. Other projects carry batteries to convert solar into usable variable energy, or to be charged whilst on the ground from solar sources, but none is ambitious enough to attempt prolonged night flight.
Following the first flight (describes as a flea hop) last month the planned programme is the first full test flight in February 2010. After a flight test program a new machine will be built to attempt an Atlantic crossing in 2012. The date for the circumnavigation of the globe has not been set, but is planned to last 36 hours with zero net energy used.
The Solar Impulse has a wingspan about the same as an Airbus A340 and weighs about 4400 lbs, so it is far more than an electric self launch sailplane with solar panels.
A project like Solar Impulse sounds like one of the dreamer project that sound so good and futuristic but in the end fails to deliver because of lack of proper engineering backup or finances. One of the special things about this project is that it is backed by the Solvay group of companies (with others).
The Solvay group have a long history of promoting science and technology in an ethical and environmentally sustainable way. Without the founder of the Solvay group, Ernest Solvay (1867-1934) our modern world would be very different.
It was Solvay who sponsored a series of conferences on physics, starting in 1911. The theme for the 1927 conference was he newly emerging subject of Quantum Physics. The participants included Einstein, Max Plank, Madam Curry, Erwin Schrodinger, Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac, Louis de Broglie, Max Born and Niels Bohr.
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