Solar Impulse 2 soared past “the point of no return” on its flight to Hawaii early Monday morning in the latest leg of the project’s journey to complete the first round-the-world trip by a piloted and solar-powered fixed-wing aircraft.
The aircraft, flown alternatively by Swiss pilots André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, is a second and larger version of the first Solar Impulse prototype
flown five years ago, according to Fox News. It is composed of lightweight carbon fiber and has more than 17,000 solar cells built into its wings that provide the plane with renewable energy for its flight.
Inclement weather forced Solar Impulse 2 to bide its time in Japan until all was clear for its
4,000 mile trek to Hawaii, according to USA Today. This flight marks the world’s longest and farthest solo flight by a solar-powered aircraft.
Borschberg plans to use breathing and meditation techniques to help him sleep for his 20-minute naps eight times a day during the flight to Hawaii, according to Fox News. After landing in Hawaii, Solar Impulse 2 will fly to Phoenix before soaring across the U.S. and the Atlantic Ocean to Europe before returning to its starting point in Abu Dhabi.
After he passed by the “point of no return” with no safe, emergency landing place left over the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Hawaii, Borschberg sent this tweet from the air:
Although solar-powered air travel is not yet commercially practical, the Solar Impulse project seeks to demonstrate the vast amounts of potential for improved energy efficiency in the
future of flying, according to The Christian Science Monitor. The aircraft’s flight is still completely dependent upon favorable weather conditions and plenty of sunlight in order to charge its batteries.
Nevertheless, Borschberg and Piccard are thrilled with the new advances in their project and anticipate important developments for solar-powered flight.
“An airplane flying day and night without fuel is more than a spectacular milestone in aviation, it's the living proof that clean technologies and renewable energies can achieve incredible feats; and that all these energy efficient technologies should now be used globally in order to have a cleaner world,” Piccard said in a statement Monday, according to Fox News.
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