The plane is called Solar Impulse and it's powered entirely by the sun.
It is not the first solar airplane, but it is the first that can fly at
night.
Thousands of solar cells on its wings transmit enough energy to
batteries to keep it in the sky from sunset to sunrise. Solar Impulse
has already flown more than 2,500 miles from Switzerland to North Africa
and back. The goal: to make it around the world in 20 days and 20
nights. The plane was created by Bertrand Piccard and his business partner,
Andre Borschberg and if there ever was an odd couple, you're looking at
them. Andre is a pilot and an engineer but never worked on building an
airplane. Until six years ago.
The first Solar Impulse plane set a number of
world records, including the longest manned solar-powered flight at 26
hours, the first inter-continental flight in a solar-powered plane, and
the greatest distance covered on a piloted solar-powered flight.
(Autonomous solar-powered drones can stay aloft for weeks).
That last record was set during Piccard’s and Borschberg’s epic TransAmerica journey in May, June and July last year.
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