With the help of routeRANK, everyone can plan their travel so as to take into account the impact on the environment as well as on cost and time. What Solar Impulse is aiming for is rather different: It is trying to dramatically decrease CO2 emissions from airplanes.
Solar Impulse aims to have an airplane take off and fly autonomously, day and night, propelled uniquely by solar energy. Around the world without fuel and pollution. As a supplementary difficulty, the energy gathered during the day will have to serve not only to propel the plane, but also to recharge the batteries to ensure flying by night.
Research was carried out since 2003, and the prototype ‘HB-SIA’ with 63metres wingspan has been designed and manufactured. In April 2010, the maiden flight was a success. It lasted 1h27. Never has an airplane as large and light ever flown before! The first night flight will be performed on the 1st of July – Engineers working hard to get the prototype ready for its next challenge.
An exciting project, and the routeRANK team looks forward to including Solar Impulse planes on its routes very soon!
In the meantime, further information on Solar Impulse can be found on their website and further information on regular flight-routes can be found through routeRANK’s multi-modal travel search engine.