Solar plane completes historic flight
JUN 06, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026086
BBC : Yesterday a solar-powered aircraft completed its first intercontinental flight, flying from Madrid, Spain, to Rabat, Morocco, in just 19 hours. The Solar Impulse is the brainchild of Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist, and André Boschberg, a Swiss businessman and pilot. The size of a jumbo jet, it is powered by 12 000 solar cells and propelled by four electrical motors. In 2010 the aircraft became the first manned solar plane to fly 26 hours nonstop. The two pilots hope to fly around the world in 2014.
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
