Progress continues for the Solar Impulse : following a 400-metre hop in December 2009 and an 87-minute flight in April this year, the solar-powered plane landed in Payerne, Switzerland, on 8th July after a flight lasting 26 hours and 9 minutes.
This is an important moment in green energy history, since this plane, running off solar energy, stayed in the air all night long, powered purely by the electricity that had been stored during the day. Its pilot and project co-creator André Borschberg added that the plane could even have continued its flight "we had much more electricity than we wanted to have".
The 12,000 photovoltaic cells fitted on the plane’s wings feed the four 10-HP electric motors, which work with 400-kg Lithium-ion batteries that keep in reserve the energy collected during the day.
Green energies: the gamble pays off
Bertrand Picard did not hide his enthusiasm regarding the success of this flight. For the "scholar-adventurer", who became famous by making the first round-the-world trip in a hot-air balloon, the Solar Impulse proves that renewable energies are now usable: "We have always spoken of our belief that it is possible to free ourselves of our dependency on fossil fuels. It was a belief but there wasn’t any proof ".
The only thing missing in terms of greater use of alternative energies is the political impetus: "Eleven years ago, the technologies in place to save fossil fuels were not as efficient, it was only the very beginning. We have now reached the stage where clean energies are available yet remain either unused or little used, because the political will to encourage their use is absent".
Although the CriCri electric plane made a big impression at the latest Green Air Show, the Solar Impulse also shows promise in terms of great innovations over the coming years, and means that resorting to more environmentally friendly technologies is becoming a reality.
By 2013, pilot André Borschberg should board the second Solar Impulse prototype in order to embark upon a 5-stage, round-the-world trip on. The green adventure continues…
