Solar Impulse during its "flea hop" tests in December 2009 - solar panels are at the back
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss federal government has approved a new flying ordinance that will allow pioneering solar plane Solar Impulse to take to the skies at night around Payerne, in canton Vaud. Flights are normally banned between 06:00 and 22:00 in Switzerland, but the new ordinance, which applies only to Solar Impulse, will allow the plane to make up to 20 flights a year for the duration of the test period, starting 1 April 2010 and ending 31 December 2013.
Solar Impulse. Now in Payerne. © 2009 Stéphane Gros/ Solar Impulse
Update 18:55 Payerne, canton Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Solar Impulse, a solar-powered aircraft which will attempt to be the first fly around the world non-stop powered only by the sun’s energy, has arrived at the airfield in Payerne, canton Vaud.
The plane was put in boxes in Duebendorf, near Zurich, and trucked to Payerne, where it is being reassembled for trials this Spring.
© 2009 Stéphane Gros/ Solar Impulse
Reassembly will be finished by March, after which flight tests are scheduled, involving taking the plane to a height of 8,500m. They will be capped by a 36-hour endurance flight.
Solar Impulse getting off the ground during the "flea hop" test 3 December 2009
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Solar Impulse hopped off the ground for the first time Thursday 3 December, flying 350 metres at an altitude of one metre. The team that has been building the plane broke into wild applause at the Duebendorf airport near Zurich.
The airplane, designed to be the first to fly night and day without fuel, was a dream of Bertrand Piccard’s 10 years ago, and has been developed over the past six years under the guidance of Piccard and co-founder André Borschberg. The airplane’s testing in recent weeks has been so positive, according to the men, that the team decided to go ahead with lift-off today, if briefly.
Solar Impulse unveiled in Duebendorf, Zurich June 2009
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Solar Impulse is moving out of the hangar near Zurich where it has been undergoing months of fine-tuning. The solar airplane’s engineering team turned over the plane officially to the test team Monday 19 October and ground testing is now beginning, under the direction of Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier.
The airplane, a project directed by Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, aims to fly around the world fueled only by energy from the sun.
Solar Impulse computer model in flight (image: EPFL)
Duebendorf, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – “Yesterday, it was a dream. Today, it is an airplane – tomorrow it will be an ambassador of renewable energies”, Bertrand Piccard told journalists gathered Friday 26 June for the unveiling of his futuristic fuel-free airplane Solar Impulse.
Piccard is the head of a project to build and fly a plane that uses only the sun’s energy to fly non-stop around the world.
Professor Jacques Piccard, explorer and inventor, died at his home on the banks of Lake Geneva 1 November, aged 86.
