Solar-powered plane heralds new dawn in aviation
Tuesday, 08 Jul, 2010
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A one-seater plane powered by the sun has completed a successful test flight that shows that in theory it could continue flying indefinitely, recharging its batteries as it travels.
The Solar Impulse craft landed at 8am this morning in an airfield in Switzerland after a test flight through the Swiss Alps which took off at daybreak on Wednesday, to the delight of the team pioneering the project.
The flight showed that it was possible for the plane to fly at night, having stored solar power in its 12,000 cells.
The plane has a huge wingspan of 63 meters yet weighs only as much as a family car.
Pilot Andre Borschberg said: "Nothing can prevent us from another day and night and the myth of perpetual flight.”
Project co-founder Bertrand Piccard: "When you took off it was another era. You land in a new
era where people understand that with renewable energy you can do impossible things."
by Dinah Hatch
Dinah
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