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A plane powered by the sun

On the night of July 7, Solar Impulse, piloted by the Swiss aviator André Borschberg, flew above the Jura mountains in search of an achievement never before obtained by aviators. For 26 hours, the airplane was kept airborne by an unprecedented fuel source; electric batteries charged with 12,000 solar cells made possible this flight that is already part of the history of aviation.

Xavier Pujol Gebellí | 20 July 2010


This is not the first time a solar-powered engine takes flight and stays in the air for a few hours, nor is it the first successful manned solar airplane. But it is the first time that a manned airplane, in conditions that resemble those of a conventional plane, stays aloft in the sky for such a long period of time (just over 26 hours), cruising through the night thanks to the energy accumulated during days by its nearly 12,000 solar cells. The successful experience of the Solar Impulse, which will aim to go around the world in 2012, opens the door to the dream of commercial flights without more fuel than that provided by the Sun.

The experience, which not a few experts have likened to the historic flight of the Wright Brothers in 1903, has marked a before and after for solar aviation history. With a wingspan of 64 meters and a weight of 1,600 kilos, each one of its four 10-horsepower electric engines should allow Solar Impulse to travel around the world in five legs without having to refuel. Technological improvements that can be made in both electric batteries and in aircraft design increase the likelihood of a success unmanned flight in the immediate future.

A technological adventure

What distinguishes the Solar Impulse from the experiences of other solar craft are the The project has a budget of more than 70 million euros important technological innovations that it has incorporated into its design. The project, started in 2003 by the Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard, currently has a budget of more than 70 million euros coming from multiple sources, which include both powerful high-tech companies that act as development partners and individuals who have decided to sponsor some of the solar cells that cover the huge wings of the plane.

With this approach, the Solar Impulse has taken on an unusual popular veneer that has not stopped it from establishing partnerships with institutions of high scientific and technological standing. Switzerland’s Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne and NASA are among the partners which have jumped aboard Piccard’s technological adventure.

Piccard, who achieved international fame after going around the world nonstop in a balloon in 1999, said that the experience led him to his new project. “The press said it was the last great adventure that lay ahead for human beings,” declared the engineer in the journal Nature in 2008. “But I did not agree.”

During his trip around the world in a balloon, Piccard said that he reflected on the enormous amount of fuel he needed to carry (about four tons) and the need to play with the winds to meet its objective. “A bad gust of wind could have destroyed everything,” he recalls now. It was then that Piccard thought of Charles Lindbergh's pioneering flight in May 1927 when he completed his historic journey from New York to Paris in just over 33 hours non-stop on board the Spirit of St Louis. Why not try something similar with a solar airplane?

That was how Piccard's adventure led him to conceive of Solar Impulse – first, in the characteristics of the plane and then on how to harness the energy to stay aloft in the absence of sunlight. Advances in the design of solar cells anticipated by Swiss technology centers in the first half of this decade along with the collaboration of large companies and NASA have accelerated a process that should culminate in 2012 with the trip around the world .

Commercial applications

Commercial flights for passengers and goods with solar planes are still far from being a reality. This would require more than remarkable advances in at least two problematic areas: the development of much more efficient electric batteries and more efficient solar cells for capturing energy.

The development of the electric car, which suffers a similar problem when it comes to batteries, could accelerate the process in part. And the development of solar panels for high-altitude unmanned flying devices, which could partially replace satellites, could offset the second deficiency.

The latter is precisely what is being seen now as the most viable option to give solar aircraft a short-term economic benefit. NASA, the ESA and other space agencies are currently studying filling the sky with solar aircraft at altitudes of up to 18,000 meters in order to complete tasks that are too difficult for some of today’s satellites, which in many cases have to be released in geostationary orbit. The telecommunications industry and those sectors engaged in surveillance have already shown interest in these devices.

THIRTY YEARS WITH FLYING SUN
The first flight of a solar airplane that appears in the newspaper archives was the Sunrise I, catapulted from the Mojave Desert in 1974 and steered by remote control. The first manned flight was not until 1979, when the Gossamer Penguin traveled over three miles. Next was the Solar Challenger, made by the American company AeroVironment, which crossed the English Channel in 1981. This company, in collaboration with NASA, is the owner of Helios, an unmanned aircraft, which in 2001 reached an altitude of 29.5 miles powered only the by solar panels located on its wings.
Other experiments, such as the remotely controlled aircraft Solongo, developed by engineer Alan Cocconi in 2005, or the Zephyr, made by the British military company QinetiQ in 2007, are currently demonstrating the uses of these devices in flying reconnaissance missions or, as has been shown, in carrying out maintenance or even replacing certain satellites.
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1 comment

Marcel Skoumal 14/09/2010
Article molt interessant De totes maneres la traducció catalana, plena d'anglesades a l'inici, i de castellanades i errors de gènere al més pur estil Johann Cruyff a la resta de l'article, és evident que l'han feta amb un traductor automàtic. Apart d'això, un article interessantíssim. Suposo que informació com el material dels elèctrodes de la bateria d'ió liti deu ser confidencial ;).

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