An experimental solar-powered plane landed last week after completing its first 24-hour test flight, proving that the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay in the air all night.
Pilot Andre Borschberg landed the Solar Impulse at Payerne airfield about 30 miles southwest of the Swiss capital Bern last Thursday.
The engineering team behind this project said it had now proven that the single-seat plane can theoretically stay in the air indefinitely, recharging its used-up batteries using 12,000 solar cells and the rays of the sun while the sun is shining on it.
July 9th, 2010 at 2:57 am
Solar power is currently very popular energy resource, because it is both Eco friendly as well as it saves our money….. It converts solar energy to electric energy directly. It is very important step for making our world green…. The aspect of solar power is day by day increasing.. So this experiment made a great revolution…….
July 11th, 2010 at 3:08 am
We are on the verge of making oil obsolete for transportation. Oil is already obsolete for ground vehicles. We have already proven that cars, trucks and trains can run on electricity alone. This solar powered plane is beginning to prove that we can also run planes on electricity. The only reason we are still using vast quantities of oil is because big oil has made enormous efforts to destroy the electric car industry.