Solar-powered flight: Its moment in the sun

March 4, 2013 Editor 0

A REVOLUTIONARY solar-powered aircraft touched down recently at Moffett Airfield, in the heart of Silicon Valley. No champagne corks were popped, however, for it arrived disassembled in the belly of a 747 cargo jet. The aircraft will be reassembled by the end of March and then begin flight tests. If all goes well, by May it should be ready to fly across America, stopping in four cities before landing in New York. However, this aircraft is just an experimental prototype for a much bigger exploit.The team behind the project, called Solar Impulse, are using their prototype to learn what will be required to build a second aircraft capable of circumnavigating the globe using only the power of the sun. After carrying out a number of successful test flights of the prototype from their base at an airfield in Payerne, Switzerland, construction of their second aircraft began. But last July the Solar Impulse project suffered a big setback. The second aircraft failed a critical safety check. Its main wing spar, the backbone of any aeroplane, broke during structural tests.There is always a risk of pushing technology too far when doing something new. Bertrand Piccard, one of Solar…

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Categories: News, The Economist

Tags: second aircraft, Solar Impulse, Solar-powered