Reaching new heights

On April 7 this year thousands of people from all over Switzerland gathered at Payerne airfield to see the solar-powered plane Solar Impulse HB-SIA slowly climb up to 1,200 metres.This was another successful step in the project to pilot a solar-powered plane around the globe. For the next 87 minutes test pilot Markus Scherdel performed initial flight exercises before making the first landing on the Vaudois tarmac.

"We still have a long way to go untilthe night flights and an even longer way before flying round the world, but today, thanksto the extraordinary work of an entire team,an essential step towards achieving our vision has been taken," said Solar Impulse Chairman and initiator Bertrand Piccard, the man who made the first non-stop balloon flight around the world.

"Our future depends on our ability to convert rapidly to the use of renewable energies. Solar Impulse is intended to demonstrate what can be done already today by using these energies and applying new technologies that can save natural resources."

The first ‘flea hop'

The project was launched in 2003 after the positive feasibility study performed by the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. The first prototype was presented to the public in Dubendorf, Switzerland, in June 2009 and a first ‘flea hop' was made in December that year.Solar Impulse HB-SIA has the wingspan ofa large airliner (63.40 metres) and the weightof a midsize car (1,600 kilograms). Some 12,000 solar cells cover its surface to run four electrical engines and store the solar energy for the night in 400 kilograms of lithium batteries.

André Borschberg, CEO and co-founder of the project, spoke of the emotion of the April 7 flight. "This first mission was the most risky phase of the entire project. One hour and 27 minutes of intense emotion after seven years of research, testing and perseverance. Never has an airplane as large and light ever flown before."

Be part of it

Do you share the same idea? Are you concerned about the future of our planet and believe that our society needs to free itself from its dependence of fossil energies? Enter the circle of Solar Impulse supporters and become an ambassador with us for a world that is dependent form fossil energies. Log on to www.solarimpulse.com/supporters_program/index.php?lang=en

Solar Impulse is supported by, among others, the Solvay group, Omega, and Deutsche Bank, who are its main partners. Bayer MaterialScience and Altran are the project's official partners. The Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is the Official Scientific Partner and Dassault-Aviation is the aircraft design and production consultant.