SolarImpulse 2013 Across America logo.
March 29, 2013
SolarImpulse is ready to cross the United States. The solar plane should leave San Francisco to New York on May 1.
The experimental Swiss aircraft SolarImpulse, powered by electric motors powered by solar energy, is ready to cross the United States from west to east. After several flights of preparation, Solar Impulse is expected to leave San Francisco to New York on May 1, said co-founder André Borschberg project.
Assembly of the aircraft completed, ready to fly
"We are now ready to fly across America," said co-founder of the project, Mr. Borschberg, during a press conference in Mountain View, California (west) in a shed next to the Solar Impulse .
However, the crossing will be five steps for security reasons, he said. He pointed out that the machine can technically do this nonstop but there can be only one pilot. It would take at least three days to cover the distance at 70 km / h, cruising speed of the aircraft of 1600 kg.
"We are constrained to fly up to 24 hours" each time, said André Borschberg, one of two pilots with Bertrand Piccard, initiator of the project and president of the firm. The first step is Phoenix (Arizona) and Dallas Fort Worth Texas and then either Atlanta (Georgia), Nashville (Tennessee) and St Louis (Missouri), he said.
SolarImpulse 2013 Across America (click on the image for enlarge)
The fourth stage will bring SolarImpulse Dulles Airport near Washington DC in mid-June and New York Kennedy Airport in early July, the final destination. The unit will remain between one week and ten days at each stage. The public, schoolchildren and students can see the plane and ask for pilots and other project participants.
Around the World in 2015
SolarImpulse, a project launched ten years ago, had its maiden flight in June 2009. In 2010, the solar aircraft whose wingspan is equivalent to a Boeing 747, was flown non-stop 26 hours. He had demonstrated its ability to accumulate enough electricity during the day to continue to fly at night.
SolarImpulse night flight
A year later, he made his first international flight between Belgium and France in June 2012, the first transcontinental journey of 2500 km between Madrid and Rabat, Morocco in 20 hours. Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg planning a world tour in 2015 with an improved version of this device.
For more information about SolarImpulse, Visit: http://www.solarimpulse.com/
Images , Text, Credits: ATS / SolarImpulse / Translation: Orbiter.ch Aerospace.
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