Around the World With a Solar-Powered Airplane

(((A *European* solar-powered aircraft, mind you.)))

Link: Solar Impulse - FAQ.

Where does the idea of the Solar Impulse come from?

Bertrand Piccard came up with this idea following Orbiter 3. This successful world tour in 1999 conveyed a great deal of enthusiasm. It is precisely this enthusiasm that must be mobilized to make people aware of the challenge of the 21st century: reconcile economic and ecologic interests. Promoting the use of new technologies not only to give credibility to sources of alternative forms of energy but also to show that we must spare today's resources.

Which are the concrete objectives of this operation?

To show what can be achieved using renewable energies and encourage their use. We want a strong symbol capable of striking the minds. In this respect, Solar Impulse will be our ambassador. The message we want to share is that it is essential to develop new technologies to allow our society to reduce its energetic consumption. As it is almost unthinkable that people will accept to diminish their life standards, we must develop efficient equipments that consume less, as well as alternative sources of energy and first of all solar energy.

Why is the wingspan of the plane so important?

Firstly, a longer wingspan allows the improvement of its aerodynamic efficiency by reducing the importance of induced drag. This produces a weaker airplane sink-rate and thus reduces the power of the motors required to maintain it in a horizontal position. The second advantage of a large wingspan is the benefit from a greater surface on which to place the solar cells....

(((Verne's on board:)))

"One could easily believe one were taking part in a Jules Verne novel: a team wanting to promote renewable energies sets off on a world tour in a solar airplane so as to fly without fuel or pollution... The revenge of Icarus, in a way.

"A new Utopia? A beautiful scene from a science fiction? No, an avant-garde technological challenge! A sufficiently eccentric project to appeal to one's emotions and get one's adrenalin pumping: to harness a clean and renewable energy, and use it without limit to fly night and day.

"To get over the hurdle of a first night in the air, then being able to envisage another and then another, and so getting closer to an even more symbolic myth: perpetual flight.

In admiration of the visionary spirit of the famous novelist, Solar Impulse also wants to place dream and science at the heart of human adventure.

'"A Jules Verne dream is today an expression to express the explorer's enthusiasm and the generous force, which is bound to animate the human being. Time, patience, tenacity, wrote my great grandfather Jules Verne, for everything great that has ever been made in the world, has been so in the name of exaggerated hopes, he concluded. And this is what Bertrand Piccard symbolises the best in this ambitious project, but one of universal public interest."' – Jean Verne