Solar Impulse

               

                   Solar Impulse is a Swiss long-range solar-powered aircraft project. It is led by Swiss psychiatrist and aeronaut Bertrand Piccard, who co-piloted the first balloon to circle the world non-stop, and Swiss businessman Andre Borschberg. The privately financed project hopes to achieve the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power.
                  The first aircraft, bearing Swiss aircraft registration HB-SIA and often referred to as Solar Impulse 1, is a single-seat monoplane, capable of taking off under its own power, and designed to be able to remain airborne up to 36 hours. This aircraft conducted its first test flight in December 2009, and first flew an entire diurnal solar cycle, including nearly nine hours of night flying, in a 26-hour flight on 7–8 July 2010. Piccard and Borschberg completed successful solar-powered flights from Switzerland to Spain and Morocco in 2012, and conducted a multi-stage flight across the USA in 2013.

          

Timeline

• 2003: Feasibility study at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
• 2004–2005: Development of the concept
• 2006: Simulation of long-haul flights
• 2006–09: Construction of first prototype (HB-SIA; Solar Impulse 1)
• 2009: First flight of Solar Impulse 1
• 2009–11: Manned test flights, including first all-night flight in 2010.
• 2011–12: Further test flights through Europe and North Africa in 7 legs
• 2011–13: Construction of second prototype (HB-SIB; Solar Impulse 2)
• 2013: Continental flight across the US of Solar Impulse 1 (Mission Across America)
• 2014: First flight of Solar Impulse 2
• 2015: World tour of Solar Impulse 2, in 12 stages over five months; it commenced in March.

                          The aircraft can accommodate 1 passenger. Its length is 21.85 m (71.7 ft) and has a wingspan of 63.4 m (208 ft). The height of the aircraft is 6.40 m (21.0 ft). The aircraft can carry a weight of 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) and max takeoff weight is 2,000 kg (4,400 lb). The propeller diameter is 3.5 m at 200 to 400 rpm (11 ft)

The second version of Solar Impulse (Solar Impulse 2) is presently circumnavigating the Earth !

Performance

• Cruise Speed: 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph)
• Endurance: 36 hours (projected)
• Service ceiling: 8,500 m (27,900 ft) with a maximum altitude of 12,000 metres (39,000 ft)