Solar Impulse 2, or Si2, is set for another aviation milestone, the world’s first solar-powered aircraft to attempt to circumnavigate the globe, departed from Nanjing, China on May 30 to travel the 8,172 km, six consecutive day and night flight that will take it over the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. This leg of the journey is the seventh and most arduous of the 12-leg journey.
For Solar Impulse’s founders Bertrand Piccard, the initiator and chairman, along with CEO Andre´ Borschberg, and their 80 technological and institutional partners, including official host partner Masdar, the Pacific crossing is a testament to the initiative’s 12 years’ of work from inception, to feasibility studies, to the aircraft’s final design and construction.
The aircraft departed from Abu Dhabi on March 9 for Muscat, Oman and departed the following day for a trek across the Arabian Sea. It arrived in Ahmedabad, India on March 10. Following a brief stop in Varanasi, India, Solar Impulse took off for Mandalay, Myanmar on March 19 with Bertrand Piccard in the cockpit. The plane then completed its fifth and most challenging journey to date, arriving in Chonqing, China on March 30. The aircraft’s departure from Chongqing to Nanjing China was delayed due to unfavorable weather conditions. The Solar Impulse team used the extended stay in Chongqing to inspire thousands of local students and community members, demonstrating how innovation and clean technology harbor the potential to create a more sustainable future. Bertrand Piccard landed Si2 in Nanjing, China on April 21 and the team began technical preparations for the ambitious Pacific crossing.
The Solar Impulse team utilized the stop in Nanjing to prepare the aircraft and pilot Andre Borschberg for his daring endeavor. Borschberg, in the single-seat, 3.8-m3 unpressurized cockpit, will be exposed to extreme conditions while soaring for up to 130 hours over the world’s largest body of water. The mission will present many human, technical and operational challenges for the pilot, aircraft, and the initiative’s 140-person support team. While the challenges of the experimental adventure have been diligently researched, developed and simulated, Borschberg, a former Swiss Air Force jet pilot, engineer, and the technical visionary behind the project will face his greatest test, one of endurance and alertness. In fact, Borschberg must be as sustainable and resilient as the plane during this 130 hour voyage.
Borschberg and the aircraft, fitted with four electric motors and 17,248 solar cells spanning the 72-meter wings, will climb to an altitude of 9,000 meters during the day to harness the energy of the sun, recharge the plane’s lithium-ion batteries, and store energy for the night flight. During the night, Borschberg will fly the aircraft at a lower altitude, as low as 1,000 meters. In the cockpit, Borschberg will experience temperatures ranging from 35 degrees Celsius in the morning to minus 20 degrees Celsius while the plane cruises at a high altitude in the early evening.
Throughout the flight, Borschberg will be in permanent contact via satellite with Solar Impulse’s Mission Control Centre in Monaco, which is comprised of 20 specialists that anticipate every possible flight scenario and transmit information enabling the pilot to follow the optimal flight plan in order to complete a successful mission.
While the round-the-world journey aims to push the boundaries of innovation and clean technology, the Solar Impulse adventure also carries an airborne message to advance environmental stewardship. Supported by Masdar and UAE Minister of State and Chairman of Masdar HE Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the #FutureIsClean initiative, launched by Solar Impulse on www.FutureIsClean.org, is designed to rally organisations, individuals, celebrities, and policy-makers to call for concrete actions for a clean future ahead of the Conference on Climate Change of the United Nations (COP21) in December 2015 in Paris.
After stopping in Hawaii, Bertrand Piccard will fly Si2 eastward towards Phoenix, reaching the continental United States. The journey will continue with a yet to be determined stop in the Midwest and a landing in New York City at JFK International Airport. After crossing the Atlantic, the plane of perpetual endurance will stop in either southern Europe or northern Africa before completing its historic journey in its host city, Abu Dhabi.