On 26 July Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg completed their final leg of the 43,000km around the world journey in a plane powered solely by solar energy. The Swiss-made monoplane operate from takeoff to landing using just the energy captured by the 17,000 cells on its 72m wide wings.
Piccard and Borschberg took turns in each of the 17 stages of the trip which began and ended in Abu Dhabi (UAE). In total, the project has broken 19 aviation records for solo and long distance flights. The longest leg of the trip took the team almost 9,000km from Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii, US lasting 4 days, 21 hours and 21 minutes.
Piccard and Borschberg took turns in each of the 17 stages of the trip which began and ended in Abu Dhabi (UAE). In total, the project has broken 19 aviation records for solo and long distance flights. The longest leg of the trip took the team almost 9,000km from Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii, US lasting 4 days, 21 hours and 21 minutes.
Despite being more than 150 million kilometres away, the Sun beams on average 1400 Watts of energy per m2 on Earth. As solar cell efficiency is improved year on year, plans to use solar-powered drones in the telecommunication industry has become an increasingly attractive market prospect.
Bertrand Piccard spoke to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon live from the Solar Impulse 2 cockpit hours before landing: “Solar Impulse has flown more than 40,000 kilometres without fuel, but with an inexhaustible supply of energy and inspiration.”
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