Solar-powered plane flies through the night

A single-seat solar-powered plane has landed in Switzerland having flown at an altitude of 8,700m for twenty-six hours – the longest and highest flight recorded by a solar-powered aircraft.

Highly efficient electric motors and batteries allowed pilot Andre Borschberg to keep the four-engine Solar Impulse aircraft aloft throughout the hours of darkness.

The pioneering flight follows seven years of research and development and takes the Solar Impulse team one step closer towards its goal of a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe.

The future of emissions-free flying?

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “The successful Solar Impulse flight is a milestone in aviation history for although it seems unlikely that this technology will find an application in passenger aircraft it highlights the need for greener transport.

Perpetual flight

It also challenges the assumption that emissions-free perpetual flight is impossible.

The Solar Impulse 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 family car.

Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss adventurer who made history in 1999 by flying around the world non-stop in a balloon and the man behind Solar Impulse, plans to use the electric plane to cross the Atlantic in 2012.