Eventually, likely, we will have the capacity to travel all over the world just with solar energy by plane or possibly helicopter. You obviously have to wait for sunny days whenever you would do this, but the point is it will be possible. If a solar powered plane can fly around the world, eventually a solar powered passenger plane can routinely travel around the world too. This is just logical. But, you likely want to have the sun out when you do it with the winds not too high also. This battery problem will be solved too because this is the first time they tried to fly so far in the tropics in the summertime with a lot of altitude changes. So, this is a little like Lindbergh flying to Paris in I think 1927 only for solar powered planes this time.
Solar plane suspends journey in Hawaii after battery damage
The Olympian-16 hours ago
A team trying to fly a solar-powered plane around the world said Wednesday it is suspending the journey in Hawaii after the plane suffered ...
Round-the-world bid solar plane grounded in Hawaii over battery ...
Belfast Telegraph-4 hours ago
Belfast Telegraph-4 hours ago
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FILE - In this July 3, 2015, file photo, ground crew push the Solar
Impulse 2, a solar powered airplane, towards the hangar after landingat
the Kalaeloa Airport in Kapolei, Hawaii. The Solar Impulse team said in a
news release early Wednesday, July 15, 2015, that they are suspending
the around-the-world journey in Hawaii, after the plane suffered battery
damage during its flight to the islands. The team will continue the
attempt, but irreversible damage caused by overheating batteries has
grounded the flight until at least April.
| Marco Garcia, File AP Photo
HONOLULU
A team trying to fly a solar-powered plane around the world said
Wednesday it is suspending the journey in Hawaii after the plane
suffered battery damage during its record-breaking flight to the
islands.
The Solar Impulse team said in a news release that it will continue the attempt to circumnavigate the globe, but irreversible damage caused by overheating batteries has grounded the flight until at least April.
The batteries aboard Solar Impulse 2 overheated on the first day of its trip from Japan to Hawaii, and there was no way to cool down the system, the team said. The company says there was no weakness with the technology, but the team didn't anticipate temperature fluctuations associated with rapid altitude changes in a tropical climate.
Pilot Andre Borschberg and his single-seat aircraft landed at Kalaeloa, a small airport outside Honolulu, on July 3. His voyage of nearly 118 hours from Nagoya, Japan, broke the record for the world's longest nonstop solo flight, his team said.
"Solar Impulse is attempting a historic first of flying around the world only on solar energy," the pilots said in a statement. "And while Solar Impulse has completed eight legs, covering nearly half of the journey, setbacks are part of the challenges of a project which is pushing technological boundaries to the limits."
The wings of Solar Impulse 2, which stretch wider than those of a Boeing 747, are equipped with 17,000 solar cells that power propellers and charge batteries. The plane ran on stored energy at night.
The aircraft took off in March from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, then made stops in Oman, Myanmar and China. It then made an unplanned stop for nearly a month in Japan after high winds damaged a wing.
The trans-Pacific leg was the riskiest part of the plane's global travels, as there was nowhere for it to land in an emergency.
The plane's ideal flight speed is about 28 mph, though that can double during the day when the sun's rays are strongest. The carbon-fiber aircraft weighs more than 5,000 pounds, or about as much as a minivan or midsize truck.
The airplane will be housed in a University of Hawaii hangar at the Kalaeloa airport on Oahu while repairs are made. The team says it will also research and test other cooling methods to prevent more overheating.
end quote from:
The Solar Impulse team said in a news release that it will continue the attempt to circumnavigate the globe, but irreversible damage caused by overheating batteries has grounded the flight until at least April.
The batteries aboard Solar Impulse 2 overheated on the first day of its trip from Japan to Hawaii, and there was no way to cool down the system, the team said. The company says there was no weakness with the technology, but the team didn't anticipate temperature fluctuations associated with rapid altitude changes in a tropical climate.
Pilot Andre Borschberg and his single-seat aircraft landed at Kalaeloa, a small airport outside Honolulu, on July 3. His voyage of nearly 118 hours from Nagoya, Japan, broke the record for the world's longest nonstop solo flight, his team said.
"Solar Impulse is attempting a historic first of flying around the world only on solar energy," the pilots said in a statement. "And while Solar Impulse has completed eight legs, covering nearly half of the journey, setbacks are part of the challenges of a project which is pushing technological boundaries to the limits."
The wings of Solar Impulse 2, which stretch wider than those of a Boeing 747, are equipped with 17,000 solar cells that power propellers and charge batteries. The plane ran on stored energy at night.
The aircraft took off in March from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, then made stops in Oman, Myanmar and China. It then made an unplanned stop for nearly a month in Japan after high winds damaged a wing.
The trans-Pacific leg was the riskiest part of the plane's global travels, as there was nowhere for it to land in an emergency.
The plane's ideal flight speed is about 28 mph, though that can double during the day when the sun's rays are strongest. The carbon-fiber aircraft weighs more than 5,000 pounds, or about as much as a minivan or midsize truck.
The airplane will be housed in a University of Hawaii hangar at the Kalaeloa airport on Oahu while repairs are made. The team says it will also research and test other cooling methods to prevent more overheating.
end quote from:
Solar plane suspends journey in Hawaii after battery damage
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