The Solar Impulse HB-SIA solar-powered aircraft will attempt to make its first night flight today (European time).
The brainchild of Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, the Solar Impulse project was launched in late 2003 with the aim of building the first solar-powered aircraft able to fly both day and night, and piloting it around the world without relying on traditional fuel sources and thereby erasing pollution.
The prototype aircraft flew briefly for the first time in December 2009, before making its first official flight earlier this year. Piccard and Borschberg aim to use the project as a vehicle to contribute to the cause of renewable energies and to demonstrate the importance of the new technologies for sustainable development.
The first attempted night flight was originally slated for last week (July 1) but was forced to be postponed due to a broken telemetry transmitter, a device which enables the ground team to follow in real time the flight mission and monitor crucial parameters.
That problem has now been rectified and, weather permitting, Borschberg will helm the aircraft on its first night flight today. A successful flight will see the Solar Impulse project demonstrate the feasibility of a night flight powered solely by solar energy collected from the 12,000 solar cells on the aircraft's wings.
Read more about the innovative Solar Impulse project here.
The Solar Impulse prototype HB-SIA. (Solar Impulse)
