Solar Power is put to the test

New energy-saving technology advancements are achieved every day, but who would have thought that solar power would eventually be able to fly a plane? On Tuesday July 6th 2010 this is exactly what happened. Although the solar powered plane (The Solar Impulse HB-SIA) has had trial runs at least a dozen times since April 7th, this was the first time that it had its ‘first night flight ever’ meaning that it had to run solely on stored solar energy cells from sunset to sunrise.

The successful trial has been a breakthrough for energy saving technologies and could well set the stage for future renewable energy projects for the aviation industry. Although it has been said already that this technology is not intended to replace traditional aircraft fuel sources in the immediate future, with the flight instead focusing on trialling and promoting energy-saving technology.

The solar cells are stored within the wings of the plane which has a wingspan as wide as a Boeing 747’s and has four electric motors powered by 12,000 solar cells.

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA reached an altitude of 8,600 metres and approximately two hours before sunset on Tuesday July 6th started a slow descent eventually reaching an altitude of 1,500 metres where it carried on flying, using only the energy stored in its batteries until the next sunrise and landing in the early hours of Wednesday.

The plane, which was controlled by chief executive and co-founder of the Solar Impulse Project, André Borscherg, landed safely at the Payerne airbase in Switzerland. Borscherg said: “For seven years now, the whole team has been passionately working to achieve this first decisive step of the project”.

Project co-founder Bertrand Piccard said: "When you took off it was another era. You land in a new era where people understand that with renewable energy you can do impossible things."

To read more about the Solar Impulse Project, click here: http://www.solarimpulse.com