First Ever Solar Powered Airplane Took Off On Its Second Leg Of Its Journey!

[joelthezombie15]

Today the first ever (manned) solar airplane Took off and flew!

 

 

Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse's co-founder and CEO, piloted thesolar-powered planethrough its takeoff from Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport at 4:47 a.m. MST (7:47a.m. ET), and pointed it toward the sunrise for what's expected to be an 18-hour flight. 

Solar Impulse is designed to demonstrate a host of clean-energy technologies, ranging from lightweight carbon composites to the 12,000-solar-cell system that powers the plane. The airplane is as light as a typical passenger car, but its wingspan matches the width of a jumbo jet.

Nbcnews http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/solar-impulse-airplane-begins-fuel-free-trip-dallas-6C10018466

 

 

This is really cool and could make advancements in a lot of different fields, (maybe my solar powered helicopter tank will finally come to fruition) 

 

What do you think?

 

I think its amazing and it took off about 30 miles away from where i live! its really cool im glad i saw it take off on the news

 

 

 

[Acek94]

That link isn't working for me.

[joelthezombie15]

That link isn't working for me.

maybe a us thing it works for me.

[Acek94]

Ah seems it was IE crashing. Joys of using a PC at school. :)

[wpirobotbuilder]

It's a neat proof-of-concept, certainly. I don't believe it represents a significant step forward as far as technology goes (though maybe it wasn't intended to be one). I think integrating solar panels on planes could provide some tangible benefit as far as providing supplementary power for some systems.

[joelthezombie15]

It's a neat proof-of-concept, certainly. I don't believe it represents a significant step forward as far as technology goes (though maybe it wasn't intended to be one). I think integrating solar panels on planes could provide some tangible benefit as far as providing supplementary power for some systems.

They flew it (slowest take off ever) and they said it was kinda a proof of concept but it could be used for like 007 missions ;)

[kemical]

this is amazing, I hope I can lift as much weight as fuel powered plans then we dont need them any more, especially in places like africa were the sun is so much in abundance 

[joelthezombie15]

Oh btw the thing only weighed the same as a regular sized car (1-2 tons) and has the wingspan of a 787

[wpirobotbuilder]

They flew it (slowest take off ever) and they said it was kinda a proof of concept but it could be used for like 007 missions ;)

Quiet, yes. Small, absolutely not. This would be really hard to use for spy missions.

 

Now a SMALL version of this would be sweet :)

[XiaoPigs]

Pretty cool concept and innovation. However it'll be decades before solar power will even have the ability to carry practical amounts of cargo and/or passengers and be put into service. Maybe the military will use it for mini drones used for recon.

[joelthezombie15]

Pretty cool concept and innovation. However it'll be decades before solar power will even have the ability to carry practical amounts of cargo and/or passengers and be put into service. Maybe the military will use it for mini drones used for recon.

thats what i said but wpirobotbuilder said no :(

[Nicktrance]

It's not that small for a microlight, but it's still far from being able to handle a decent load.

[cullano]

I wonder how that thing would do in some rough weather. It looks like it would just break up.

[Kamil]

I was going to say something, but then I saw the word "Manned" and settled down.

 

Anyways, it's going to be a long time before we can even consider solar power as viable for practical aircraft. Even with such a light design, so much area for solar panels and such low speeds mandated by the still low power output means relatively giant wingspans are needed, and trying to upscale would go beyond the structural integrity limits of modern materials. Still, it's progress; not all that long ago even an unmanned solar aircraft was pretty much all wing and broke apart mid-flight.