*BERNE, SWITZERLAND :* Heard of solar powerd cars, two-wheelers adn commercial vehicles but a solar-powered airplance flying for more than 24 hours was thought to be quite impossible. Now a solar-powered airplane has completed a record-setting test flight of more than 24 hours over Switzerland.
The slender and long-winged airplane, called Solar Impulse, flew to an altitude of 28,000 feet above sea level at an average speed of 25 miles per hour, the organizers said. Solar Impulse is decked with 12,000 solar cells that collect energy during the day so that the plane's four electric motors can operate at night. The plane was steered by Andre Borschberg, a former Swiss air force pilot, who sat in its tiny single-seat cockpit for the entire 26 hours and 9 minutes of the test flight. "I've been a pilot for 40 years now, but this flight has been the most incredible one of my flying career," Borschberg said after he landed safely at a small airfield at Paverne near Berne, according to a statement from the project organizers. "Just sitting there and watching the battery charge level rise and rise thanks to the sun. I have just flown more than 26 hours without using a drop of fuel and without causing any pollution." The project has been developed for the past three years by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard, who in 1999 became the first person to complete a non-stop trip around the globe in a hot air balloon. His grandfather Auguste Piccard and his father, Jacques Piccard, were notable inventors and also balloonists. With his solar-powered air plane, Piccard aims to show that renewable energies allow for unlimited flight -- technically, the Solar Impulse could stay afloat forever, granted that it collects sun all day to power the batteries long enough at night. Anil Sethi, the founder of the start-up Flisom, which produces flexible solar panels, says the achievement of Solar Impulse is thanks to advancements in cell technology. "Solar cells have been around for about 50 years now, but they've been expensive and heavy," he told Swiss news portal swissinfo.ch.
"What Solar Impulse is doing is to demonstrate that this clean energy can make a difference, and it is possible."

 Made of carbon fiber, the plane has a wingspan of 209 feet, similar to that of an Airbus A340, but it weighs only 3,500 pounds -- less than a hundredth of the passenger plane. So what does this test flight mean, other than being a great technical and piloting achievement? Gerard Feldzer, director of the Air and Space Museum at Paris' Le Bourget airport, told swissinfo.ch that solar-powered transport planes don't have a realistic future because they are far too heavy; on the other hand, solar cells might be embedded in the metal of the wings or fuselage to help reduce on-board electricity consumption. And for smaller, ultra-light airplanes, solar power could soon become a real alternative. After Borschberg passed the 24-hour mark, Piccard congratulated him from mission control. The pilot replied, again and again, that "this is just the beginning." -- Regards Hardik Shah -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en.
