Solar energy

“Solar Impulse 2” on the last stage

Since March of last year, the solar plane is already on the way – including a long forced break. Now its two pilots aim to circle the earth.

“Solar Impulse 2” is started to the last stage of the circumnavigation of the world. The adventurer Bertrand Piccard made in the early hours of Sunday morning (local time) on the way from Cairo in the direction of Abu Dhabi, as the Team reported in the short message service Twitter. In Abu Dhabi, the “Solar Impulse 2” at 9 was. March 2015 for stage 1 is lifted.

BREAKING @Bertrand Piccard has taken off from #Cairo for the last flight of the journey to #AbuDhabi #Futur eisclean pic.twitter.com/2ufDjAS5VK

— SOLAR IMPULSE (@solar impulse) 23. July 2016

An early planned departure had to be postponed due to unfavourable weather conditions in Cairo, and an upset stomach Piccard’s. The Team referred to the last flight as the most difficult of the 17 stages. In addition to no-fly zones are mainly the weather conditions and Thermiken, which made the Crossing of the Middle East so difficult.

The flight from Cairo to Abu Dhabi should take between 48 and 72 hours. The two Swiss adventurers and scientists André Borschberg and Piccard will want to advertise with the to circumnavigate the globe for the use of renewable energies.

Impressive Data

The carbon fiber-built plane with a wingspan of 72 meters, is completely without fuel. Instead, he has more than 17,000 solar cells. “Solar Impulse 2” is as big as a Boeing 747, but weighs only as much as a large car and flies at an average speed of 50 kilometres per hour.

Pilots: Bertrand Piccard (left) and Andre Borschberg

Borschberg and Piccard alternated in the case of the circumnavigation of the world in the Cockpit. From July 2015 to April 2016, your plane was stuck, however, on Hawaii, after the previous, approximately 8000 km long flight across the Pacific, the batteries overheated. Repairs and test flights lasted nine months. In June of this year, the first crossing of the Atlantic, the two adventurers finally with a solar airplane.

wa/ml (dpa, twitter)