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July 2, 2009 — Seventy people spent six years doing intense work, calculations, simulations and tests. But late last week, all the hard work became worth it when Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg unveiled the Solar Impulse HB-SIA at Dübendorf airfield. It is the first aircraft designed to fly both day and night without fossil fuel or emissions.
The presentation of the prototype took place in front of more than 800 people. Click here to view the unveiling.
Piccard and Borschberg said the Solar Impulse has a wingspan of a Boeing 747-400 and weighs about 3,500 pounds, or about the weight of a family car. More than 12,000 solar cells mounted onto the wing will supply renewable energy to the four electric motors with a maximum power of 10 HP each. During the day they will also charge the lithium-polymer batteries, which account for about 880 pounds, which will permit the HB-SIA to fly through the night.
The HB-SIA is the first prototype of the Solar Impulse project. Its mission is to demonstrate the feasibility of a complete day-night-day cycle propelled solely by solar energy. After fine-tuning on the ground, the aircraft should make its first test flights between now and the end of 2009. A first complete night flight is programmed for 2010.
“Yesterday it was a dream. Today it is a plane. Tomorrow it will be an ambassador of renewable energy,” the 51-year-old Piccard told the Times Online.
Piccard said that the project would make history in a field where existing solar-power aircraft are unable to stay in the air at the slightest hint of cloud. It would also demonstrate the potential of renewable energy.
“If an aircraft is able to fly day and night without fuel, propelled solely by solar energy, let no one come and claim that is impossible to do the same thing for motor vehicles, heating and air conditioning and computers,” he said. “Through this project we are proclaiming our conviction that a pioneering spirit and political vision can together change society and put an end to fossil-fuel dependency.”
The results from the HB-SIA and their analysis will serve to develop and build a second aircraft, the HB-SIB for circumnavigating the word in five stages, each lasting several days, in 2012.
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Bertrand Piccard stands next to the Solar Impulse, which was unveiled last week at the Dübendorf airfield. Photo credit: Times Online (Adam Sage in Paris)
The Solar Impulse is the first aircraft designed to fly both day and night without fossil fuel or emissions.
Photo credit: Solar Impulse
The Solar Impulse includes more than 12,000 solar cells mounted on the wing. Photo credit: Solar Impulse
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