This aeroplane is solar powered!
What are most aircraft powered by?
Jet fuel.
But this aviation fuel is expensive. It is also a non-renewable source of energy, and so, using it up can rob the earth of an expensive asset. Scientists are also worried on another score: We are drawing out oil and natural gas from inside the earth but not filling the space they occupied. What effect will this have on the planet?
We need to find more ways to use renewable sources of energy powered by the sun, the wind and the waves.
Solar Impulse plane
Whoosh! Here comes Si2, an aircraft that is fuelled by the sun. This earth-friendly aircraft is part of the Solar Impulse project and Andre Borschberg, one of the pilots of this aircraft, is also a founder of this company.
The plane, Solar Impulse 2, is the first solar-powered plane that can fly for several days and nights. That is how it flew over the Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean in the world, flying for five days without a stop between Nanjing in China and Hawaii -- a distance of 8,500 kilometres.
The first such aircraft was the Solar Impulse which flew 26 hours in 2010, recharging its lithium batteries during the day to keep flying at night.
This plane, Si2, with a wingspan wider than a commercial aircraft like Boeing 747, flies at about 50-100 kilometres (30-60 miles) per hour and will be flying around the world, breaking a journey of about 35,000 kilometres (22,000 mile) with 12 stops. The journey will start at Abu Dhabi in February or March to take advantage of the low clouds in the Gulf. The first stop will be Muscat in Oman. Then, it will cross the Arabian Sea, fly over India, Myanmar, China, Hawaii and on to New York. Depending on the weather, it will also touch down at Europe or north Africa.
The chairman of Solar Impulse, Bertrand Piccard, is from a family of Swiss scientists and adventurers. The company is out to prove that earth-friendly technology and renewable energy can be used in most of what we do. This way, we can save the non-renewable natural resources of the world.
The record-making journey will be done in about 25 days. With rests and maintenance stops, it should take a few months.
This will certainly be one of the most energy-efficient plane journeys to date!
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Photo credit: Wikimedia
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Solar Impulse plane
Whoosh! Here comes Si2, an aircraft that is fuelled by the sun. This earth-friendly aircraft is part of the Solar Impulse project and Andre Borschberg, one of the pilots of this aircraft, is also a founder of this company.
The plane, Solar Impulse 2, is the first solar-powered plane that can fly for several days and nights. That is how it flew over the Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean in the world, flying for five days without a stop between Nanjing in China and Hawaii -- a distance of 8,500 kilometres.
