Imagine a plane that is not never stop to refuel gas to continue the flight? A plane can sail the winds, without unnecessary stops , turning the world forever?
Well that’s what has made a prototype of Solar Impulse , called HB -SIA. This airplane , with room for only André Borschberg , the pilot, is powered by solar energy , covering the wing with 12,000 panels to allow not only to use the sun as an energy source , but store the accumulated energy to keep flying at night.
The aim of the HB -SIA was thus flying for 24 hours, reaching an altitude of 28,000 feet. And he did , starting the flight at 6.51 am, and landed finally at 9 am the following day , making it therefore piloted the first plane in flight through the day .
With the approximate weight of a midsize car , only for the pilot area and reaching a maximum speed of 70 KMs per hour , the project was full of questions and practical problems which, fortunately, were solved .
Some of the prominent features are
- Passengers: 1
- Battery: 450 kg of Lithium Ion Batteries
- Length: 21.85 m
- Wing length : 63.4 m
- Height: 6.40 m
- Total weight: 1600 Kg
- Engine: 4 electric motors of 10 HP each
- Speed Take Off 35 Km / h
(source: arturogoga)
