"Solar impulse" crosses the US, using only the energy of the sun
The Swiss aircraft Solar Impulse (Solar Impulse), capable of performing round-the-clock flights, using only the energy of the sun, charging batteries during the day and consuming energy at night, recently began its journey through America. The plane will cross the entire territory of the United States from west to east without using a single drop of fuel.
A unique car took off from the airfield near San Francisco on May 3 at 6 am Pacific time and landed in Phoenix at 1 am on Saturday night. Thus, this flight took about 18 hours, while the same distance by car could be covered in 12 hours. But it's not about speed. "We do not pursue speed," says pilot Bertrand Picard, "we want to demonstrate that we can be in the air for as long as we want, using only solar energy."
In total there will be five intermediate landings en route, including the final destination - New York. In theory, “Solar Impulse” could have crossed the United States without landing at all, but the experiment’s organizers decided to split the journey into several stages to give the pilots a breather, since The device is currently not equipped with an autopilot. In total, the experiment will take about a month and is a “warm-up” before a big round-the-world flight on solar energy, to be held in 2015.
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With a small mass of 1600 kilograms (400 of which are Li-Po batteries), the plane has a truly enormous wingspan - 63 meters (as in the Boeing 747!). The surface of the wings is covered with 10 thousand single crystals forming solar panels. The average flight speed is 70 km / h and cruising altitude is 8500 meters.
Track the status of the flight can be on the official website of the project.
A unique car took off from the airfield near San Francisco on May 3 at 6 am Pacific time and landed in Phoenix at 1 am on Saturday night. Thus, this flight took about 18 hours, while the same distance by car could be covered in 12 hours. But it's not about speed. "We do not pursue speed," says pilot Bertrand Picard, "we want to demonstrate that we can be in the air for as long as we want, using only solar energy."
In total there will be five intermediate landings en route, including the final destination - New York. In theory, “Solar Impulse” could have crossed the United States without landing at all, but the experiment’s organizers decided to split the journey into several stages to give the pilots a breather, since The device is currently not equipped with an autopilot. In total, the experiment will take about a month and is a “warm-up” before a big round-the-world flight on solar energy, to be held in 2015.
')
With a small mass of 1600 kilograms (400 of which are Li-Po batteries), the plane has a truly enormous wingspan - 63 meters (as in the Boeing 747!). The surface of the wings is covered with 10 thousand single crystals forming solar panels. The average flight speed is 70 km / h and cruising altitude is 8500 meters.
Track the status of the flight can be on the official website of the project.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/178789/
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