February 21, 2008 — It’s exciting and quite an accomplishment to be the first to fly around the world in a balloon. But Bertrand Piccard hopes to set another world record when he flies around the world, this time in an aircraft powered by solar energy.
Piccard, a Swiss balloon pioneer, outlined his Solar Impulse project earlier this month at the 2008 Singapore Air Show. His project is intended to produce a lightweight aircraft capable of staying aloft day and night and powered by solar-generated electrical energy.
"On solar energy you have to capture the energy with solar cells on the wings, store this energy in the batteries and at the same time, run the engine during the day," Piccard said. "So when you get the dark, you can use the energy from the batteries until the next sunrise and continue the next day and next night and next day again."
Piccard expects the batteries to be able to power the aircraft for at least 16 hours after dark, reports ChannelNews Asia. That should give the aircraft plenty of time after sunset, as well as some margin of safety in low-light conditions.
Though it exists only in prototype form at this time, Piccard expects the first carbon fiber Solar Impulse to have its maiden flight in 2009. The 2-ton aircraft will have a wingspan of about 262 feet and boast 690 square feet of solar panels. The longer wingspan has two purposes:
- To improve the aerodynamic efficiency by reducing the importance of induced drag
- To take advantage of a greater surface on which to place the solar cells
Although it is large, the plane will barely accommodate one pilot — Piccard — in a small, narrow, highly computerized cockpit. It will fly at about 40 mph.
The aircraft's solar panels charge ultralight lithium batteries, which in turn power four electric propeller engines along the wings.
The team has raised about 65 percent of the expected $70 million U.S. cost of the project.
Piccard came up with this idea for Solar Impulse following Orbiter 3, his nonstop 1999 flight around the world in a balloon. But the latest RTW flight has another purpose, too — to give credibility to alternative forms of energy.
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The Solar Impulse HS-SIA prototype aircraft will be powered by solar energy. Bertrand Piccard plans to break a world record by becoming the first to fly a solar-powered airplane
around the world.
Photo credits: © Solar Impulse/EPFL Claudio Leonardi
It has a wingspan of 262 feet and includes nearly 700 square feet of solar panels.
The aircraft can accommodate only one passenger.
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