History will be made when the first transcontinental airplane flight made with zero liquid fuel takes place this spring. The solar-powered plane called the Solar Impulse will travel from San Francisco to New York using 11,628 photovoltaic cells, several lithium polymer batteries and four 10 horsepower electric engines. The plane’s wingspan is the size of a Boeing 747, it weighs about as much as a car and has as much power as an average scooter.
The idea for Solar Impulse was born in 1999 when Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones circumnavigated the globe in a balloon – a mission that almost failed due to fuel supply constraints. The incident motivated Piccard to circle the Earth again, but this time without fuel, a goal that hit a major milestone last year when Bertrand and Co-founder Andre Borschberg flew the plane from Switzerland to Morocco and back in the first fully-solar powered intercontinental flight.
Perhaps the greatest milestone was reached in 2010 when the team made the first solar-powered night flight in history, operating the aircraft for 26 consecutive hours and capturing 3 world records.
However, the multimillion dollar plane has zero direct commercial applications, carrying neither cargo nor passengers, so what’s the point?
The technology being developed and utilized for the project can be applied anywhere, Bertrand told Breaking Energy. “If the technologies were all used on a massive scale globally, energy use could be cut by a factor of 2,” he said.
Two guiding principles drive Solar Impulse, said Piccard: To demonstrate clean, energy efficient technology capabilities and inspire people to achieve things that may initially appear impossible.
Aviation is an ideal vehicle for such a demonstration explained Borschberg and Piccard. Beginning with the Wright Brothers, modern explorers, pioneers and innovators are both pushed and pulled by technology as they strive to achieve distant goals.
Not to mention, “airplanes are exciting” said Piccard, and thus the perfect medium to draw people’s attention to the often dry subject of energy efficiency. Furthermore, “you can’t cheat in aviation,” said Borschberg, it’s a difficult but effective demonstration.
They also stressed the investment is profitable. The team of “mechanical and electrical engineers, physicists, IT experts and composite material specialists” working on the project have developed patented materials like carbon nanotubes and aluminium powders that are being used in the construction and refrigeration industries. The idea is to apply the energy efficiency and renewable energy innovations made while developing the plane to other aspects of modern society.
The total budget for the project over 12 years is $140 million, according to Borschberg, and the funding is sourced from private companies. The developers refer to these donors as partners rather than sponsors – “they must have a pioneering spirit” and value innovation said Piccard.
The “Main Partners” are Solvay, Omega, Deutsche Bank and Schindler and the “Official International Partners” are Bayer MaterialScience and Altran. Sun Power developed the solar cells and South Korea’s Kokam the batteries.
The funding has been raised in stages that coincide with each development phase, said Borschberg, and they have brought in $110 million thus far. There are only a few American companies involved so far, but they have been having “great discussions,” he said.
The decision to fly across the US fits well with the spirit of the project because this is where aviation was invented Piccard said. The balloon he circled the globe in now lives at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum and he hopes Solar Impulse will one day share that honor.
