Solar-powered plane unveiled today

After four years of design and development, Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard today unveils the solar-powered aircraft with which he plans to demonstrate the potential of renewable energies by circumnavigating the globe. It will be the world’s first manned solar-powered aircraft.

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA prototype has a wing span of 61m, which is comparable with a commercial airliner, but at 1,500kg the solar-powered plane weighs the same as a small family car.

Dr Piccard made history in 1999 by flying around the world non-stop in a balloon.
He plans to test the solar-powered plane by making a crossing of the Atlantic in 2012.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “The main challenge for the team is to conserve enough energy during sunlight hours to maintain flight at night as the aircraft will be flying for weeks on end without refuelling.”

Will airliners be solar-powered in the near future?

The cutting-edge technology employed by the Solar Impulse team has resulted in an aircraft with a 60-80m wingspan simply to carry a single person. And yet it was only 66 years after the first powered flight in 1903 that we landed on the moon.

What is the ETA?

The ETA is an organisation providing motorists and cyclists with carbon-neutral breakdown cover and insurance products – including a specialised service for electric vehicles.