Bertrand Piccard, the Swiss explorer and psychiatrist who made history 10 years ago piloting a hot air balloon around the world, landed in Mountain View, California just before midnight last night in the 9th leg of a endeavor to fly a solar powered airplane around the world.
The plane dubbed Solar Impulse 2, had been grounded in Hawaii since July of last year when seasonal changes meant there was no longer enough sunlight during the day to continue it’s journey. The problems that plagued the plane were not just seasonal, but extended to the mechanical with a problem with the batteries.
The plane has a wingspan of 72 meters (236 feet) and is covered by over 17,000 solar cells on its wings and fuselage. The one man aircraft is being flown by 2 members of the Solar Impulse team on alternating legs. Regardless of its size the plane weighs about the same as an SUV coming in at close to 2 1/3 tons.
The experimental aircraft was expected to have arrived Saturday morning on this leg from Hawaii. However, the plane flies no faster than an automobile travels at about 83 mph. Solar Impulse 2 actually arrived in the bay area around dusk and spent several hours flying over the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco in celebration of the achievement.
Upon landing Piccard told CNN that “It’s a new era, it’s not science fiction. It’s today. It exists and clean technologies can do the impossible.” The purpose of the flight’s mission is to showcase the power of clean technology. The crew expects to finish the flight later this August in either Europe or Northern Africa.
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