By IANS,
Beijing : The team that built the first solar-powered plane is planning a round-the-world flight within two years, with a stopover in China, a media report Thursday said.
“We plan to stop in Hawaii, the US, a European country, Japan and probably China – it is a country that cannot be ignored,” said Bertrand Piccard, one of the project’s founders and pilots, who visited Shanghai to find partners for the trip.
With a 63.4-metre wingspan and an average flying speed of 70 km per hour, Solar Impulse is a revolutionary aircraft that can accomplish night and long-distance flights powered only by solar and wind energy, english.eastday.com reported.
“This project voices our conviction that a pioneering spirit with political vision can bring about an end to fossil fuel dependency,” Piccard said.
The project began six years ago, with joint efforts of mechanical and electrical engineers, physicists, computer scientists and others from a number of countries.
The aircraft is 21.85 metres long, 6.4 metres tall and weighs 1,600 kg. It has 11,628 solar cells, 10,748 on the wing and 880 on the horizontal stabilizer.
“Technology can destroy the world but it can also save the world, depending on people’s minds,” said another pilot and founder Andre Borschberg.