Solar Powered Airplanes
You're reading Solar Powered Airplanes, posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 6:38 pm in U.S. News, on BrainBloggers at the World News blog. More after the jump.
More and more individuals are doing the research on what solar power is and how it is able to be utilized to not just help the environment – but likewise to save money. Many bigger businesses are drawing rein this power to help the function of large work plants and are saving them time and money on the amount of power that they can utilize.
Some of us know that it is manageable to set up solar panels attached to our home and to utilize them to power the electrical energy, water, heat, and even keep it cool. But we still question if there is not more advantages to this power that we have not even begun to try. Is it possible to draw in this power and to use it for much bigger things like trains or even airplanes?
Bertrand Piccard considered this idea also and used the knowledge he had gathered to create a solar airplane. It is no wonder that he would have the idea and the aspiration to to bring is idea to life and he was the father of the world’s first non stop flight in a balloon that journeyed around the whole world. Now he is getting ready to fly for 36 hours in his new prototype that has been named the Solar Impulse.
On June 16th in Zurich, Switzerland this new airplane will be unveiled for the very first time. It has a wingspan of 207 feet – which is standard on many commercial planes. It is likewise equipped with 11,628 solar cells that are built in the wings. It is built as a single pilot airplane and weighs as much as an average vehicle. The propellers are powered with lithium batteries.
The solar power plane is made to fly below 28,000 feet where it has the ability to obtain the large measure of sunlight and will not produce any pressure in the cabin. The first test flight is scheduled for sometime later in the year.