Sun-Powered Plane Attempts Intercontinental Flight

The Swiss sun-powered aircraft Solar Impulse took off on Thursday for Morocco on its first attempt at an intercontinental flight - without using a drop of fuel. If successful, the 2,500-kilometer (1,550-mile) journey would be the longest to date for the craft after an inaugural flight to Paris and Brussels last year.

Published

over 2 years ago

Categories

Technology, Green Technology, Science

Topics

Technology, Alternative Energies

People

Andre Borschberg

Places

Morocco, Switzerland

Tags

solar impulse, solar power, solar plane

Transcript

SHOTLIST : <br></br><br></br>PAYERNE, SWITZERLAND, MAY 24, 2012 <br></br>SOURCE: SOLAR IMPULSE <br></br><br></br><br></br>** <br></br>NO RESALE <br></br>** <br></br><br></br><br></br>-VAR of technicians preparing the plane <br></br>-VAR of the plane taking off <br></br><br></br><br></br>/// <br></br>-------------------------------------------------------------- <br></br>AFP TEXT: <br></br><br></br>Switzerland-Morocco-aerospace-renewable-energy-solar <br></br> Solar Impulse takes off on first intercontinental flight <br></br> =(PICTURE)= <br></br><br></br> PAYERNE, Switzerland, May 24, 2012 (AFP) - The Swiss sun-powered aircraft Solar Impulse on Thursday took off for Morocco on its first intercontinental flight attempt without using a drop of fuel. <br></br> Pilot Andre Borschberg successfully launched the plane from an airfield in Payerne in western Switzerland at around 8:30am (0630 GMT), bound for Rabat via Madrid, after a two-hour delay due to foggy conditions. <br></br> If successful the 2,500-kilometre (1,550-mile) journey would be the longest to date for the craft after an inaugural flight to Paris and Brussels last year. <br></br> The high-tech aircraft, which has the wingspan of a large airliner but weighs no more than a saloon car, is fitted with 12,000 solar cells feeding four electric engines. <br></br> Borschberg was expected to land at Madrid's Barajas airport at about 1:00 am on Friday for a three-day technical stopover, organisers said. <br></br> Checks would be carried out and depending on the weather conditions second pilot Bertrand Piccard would depart for Rabat on Monday. <br></br> The trip is intended as a rehearsal in the run-up to the plane's round-the-world flight planned for 2014. <br></br> The aircraft made history in July 2010 as the first manned plane to fly around the clock on the sun's energy. <br></br> It holds the record for the longest flight by a manned solar-powered aeroplane after staying aloft for 26 hours, 10 minutes and 19 seconds above Switzerland, also setting a record for altitude by flying at 9,235 metres (30,298 feet). <br></br> lc/har