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Solar Impulse: Engineering a Zero-fuel Airplane

by Erin Tallman

June 5, 20182 mins

Solar Impulse 2 ended its ’round-the-world flight in July 2016 without having consumed a drop of fuel. Powered only by the sun’s energy, it covered 40,000 km in 17 legs and 15 months; crossing Asia, the Pacific, the U.S., the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

“Too big, too light and impossible to control in flight,” aviation specialists said—apart from Dassault—believing the challenge unattainable.

Contrary to belief, the Solar Impulse 2 ended its ’round-the-world flight in July 2016 without having consumed a drop of fuel. Powered only by the sun’s energy, and piloted by Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg—the Swiss duo behind its creation—the Solar Impulse covered 40,000 km in 17 legs and 15 months; crossing Asia, the Pacific, the U.S., the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

For Rob McDonald, Development Leader for OpenVSP aircraft software,

The Solar Impulse project is a remarkable accomplishment that I believe we will eventually look back upon as a Lindbergh moment for electric flight.

Bertrand Piccard, a medical doctor specialized in psychiatry, explorer and aeronaut, who made the first nonstop around-the-world balloon flight, is the initiator and chairman. André Borschberg, an engineer and graduate in management science, a fighter pilot and a professional airplane and helicopter pilot, is the co-founder and CEO. The former’s avant-garde vision and the latter’s entrepreneurial and managerial experience have resulted in record breaking historical marks and a bright sustainable future…..

Read the whole story in our partner publication ArchiExpo e-magazine.