Solar-powered plane completes first leg of round-the-world flight
17 replies, posted
[quote][t]http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150120090730-solar-impulse-global-flight-map-medium-169.jpg[/t]
(CNN)Solar Impulse 2 has landed safely in Oman on the first leg of its quest to be the first plane to fly around the world fueled only by the sun's rays.
The solar-powered plane took off from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates early on Monday with pilot Andre Borschberg at the controls for the 400-kilometer (250 mile) flight.
The journey was expected to take about 12 hours, but high winds of up to 11 knots delayed its landing, forcing Borschberg to fly in a holding pattern above Muscat until they dropped to safe levels.
Once safely on the ground, Borschberg said he was "extremely happy" and "looking forward to the rest of [the] adventure."
Solar Impulse 2's visit to Oman is a short pit-stop on its marathon 35,000-kilometer, five month journey across the globe, via India, Myanmar, China and the U.S.
The plane is expected to be on the ground for just eight hours before it takes off again -- this time with pilot Bertrand Piccard in charge -- bound for Ahmedabad in India.
The potentially historic flight had originally been due to take off on March 1 but its departure was postponed because of concerns about the weather after strong dust storms created hazy conditions.
"We have had a lot of sandstorms in Abu Dhabi, and also a lot of wind, sea breezes, higher than the limit," said the team's meteorologist Luc Truellemans in an interview posted on Twitter and YouTube.
By Monday morning, the skies had cleared sufficiently for takeoff, though there was a slight delay while technical checks were carried out, as pilot Andre Borschberg explained on Twitter.[/quote]
[url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/08/middleeast/solar-impulse-flight/]CNN[/url]
We are literally watching history in the making folks! One of the first solar-powered aircraft to attempt to make a round the world trip. This is gonna be so awesome if it completes it!
Holy shit, Piccard is the same guy who toke part in the Breitling Orbiter balloon project.
I hope it does, that would be fantastic for so many reasons.
I wish them luck on that ocean stretch
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;47301993]
We are literally watching history in the making folks! One of the first solar-powered aircraft to attempt to make a round the world trip. This is gonna be so awesome if it completes it![/QUOTE]
don't get too cocky, right now the plane can land at any number of airports, the pacific and atlantic legs are going to be what makes or breaks this plane
Which airport does it say it's going to on the US east coast? I can't really tell it's too small
When they first reported them going around the world, I thought for a moment it was going to be without any landings.
It can fly day and night indefinitely. They're only landing to do hardware checks and rest the pilot. Eventually they will do a non-stop flight, I think they said.
[editline]11th March 2015[/editline]
Here's the first take off of the trip:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeh0L_FKyMo[/media]
Live updates here: [url]http://www.solarimpulse.com/city-stop-ahmedabad[/url]
[QUOTE=mcgrath618;47302518]Which airport does it say it's going to on the US east coast? I can't really tell it's too small[/QUOTE]
Just says New York, USA.
[QUOTE=OvB;47302923]It can fly day and night indefinitely. They're only landing to do hardware checks and rest the pilot. Eventually they will do a non-stop flight, I think they said.
[editline]11th March 2015[/editline]
Here's the first take off of the trip:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeh0L_FKyMo[/media]
Live updates here: [url]http://www.solarimpulse.com/city-stop-ahmedabad[/url][/QUOTE]
Whats the top speed on this plane?
It looks like its barely going faster than the people on the bikes. Its impressive to me that the thing is taking off at such slow speeds
[QUOTE=Cmx;47306536]Whats the top speed on this plane?
It looks like its barely going faster than the people on the bikes. Its impressive to me that the thing is taking off at such slow speeds[/QUOTE]
[del]45[/del] 50 mph in air for Impulse 1 and Impulse 2 goes roughly 55mph in air.
So basically; Lower altitude sattelites?
It would be amazing if we could substitute air traffic with solar powered aircraft, kerosene powered jets do a real number on ecology. Maybe we could at least soon enough reach some sort of hybrids, something like a turboprop powered aircraft with an electric motor on the shaft, which would take over after takeoff. The aircraft could still fall back onto the turbines if the weather went bad or something with the electric went wrong.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;47307200]It would be amazing if we could substitute air traffic with solar powered aircraft, kerosene powered jets do a real number on ecology. Maybe we could at least soon enough reach some sort of hybrids, something like a turboprop powered aircraft with an electric motor on the shaft, which would take over after takeoff. The aircraft could still fall back onto the turbines if the weather went bad or something with the electric went wrong.[/QUOTE]
Turboprops, the main type used by commercial jets and basically anything else use ducted fans for most of the thrust anyway. Most of the intake bypasses the jet engine entirely. It's just there to spin the fan. Eventually electric technology will catch up to be able to spin a fan that large at those RPMs I recon.
better batteries and miniature fusion power will put us into a new Era of electric technology.
[QUOTE=OvB;47302923]It can fly day and night indefinitely. They're only landing to do hardware checks and rest the pilot. Eventually they will do a non-stop flight, I think they said.
[editline]11th March 2015[/editline]
Here's the first take off of the trip:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeh0L_FKyMo[/media]
Live updates here: [url]http://www.solarimpulse.com/city-stop-ahmedabad[/url][/QUOTE]
This might seem like a silly question, but why were there people on bikes riding behind it when there was a car following behind? The same with the two guys holding the wings until it became too fast for them to keep up.
[QUOTE=Dominic0904;47308344]This might seem like a silly question, but why were there people on bikes riding behind it when there was a car following behind? The same with the two guys holding the wings until it became too fast for them to keep up.[/QUOTE]
They're there to keep the wing from dipping too far and hitting the ground. This video mentions it
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbZqj96l8Bo[/media]
Also they're very active on twitter if anyone wants to stay up to date on everything [url]https://twitter.com/solarimpulse[/url]
[QUOTE=Dominic0904;47308344]This might seem like a silly question, but why were there people on bikes riding behind it when there was a car following behind? The same with the two guys holding the wings until it became too fast for them to keep up.[/QUOTE]
Primitive landing gear.
[QUOTE=Zenreon117;47306983]So basically; Lower altitude sattelites?[/QUOTE]
Actually that is the point of solar powered aircraft: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_satellite[/url]
Convenience of satellite internet with small latency sounds really ideal
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