The 'lithium ion battery with wings' has begun global circumnavigation. Abu Dhabi to Muscat, about 340 km in about 13 hours. Obviously not a fast airplane, but it has some interesting features. Of great interest to me will be the Mandalay to Chongching leg, because it may pass near enough to be visible from sleepy little Kunming. That leg is almost 4 times longer than the first, so it will include at least one overnight. The longest leg will be Nanjing to Honolulu, planned to take 5 days. Bear in mind that this is a 1-seater
It's an amazing thing, and an exciting project. I'd imagine that starting off somewhere as sunny as the Gulf was a good move. How high does the plane fly? I'd be kind of nervous about the effect that pollution (and spring rains) might have on the ability to generate power for the Chongqing to Nanjing leg.
No wiki for you? Service ceiling = 8500 meters, the lucky pilot breathes O2 from a tank because there is no 'spare weight' or energy to pressurize the meat cell. No idea why they started from Abu Dhabi. Gotta start somewhere. For me, any global circumnavigation run at the edge of human and material capability is a thing. Solvay poured money into this. If you care about mercury (Hg, not the planet), they are not good guys. But now we can do carbon fiber, LiIon batteries, and 4 pretty good 11 KW motors. What remains in play are human and weather factors. It was ever thus in global circumnavigations (I suppose). Makes them fun. More fun for us now because of the internet. The two pilots, Piccard and Borschburg, make alternate flight legs. Other pilot gets positioned by conventional transport; we'd not suppose that this is a 'no-fossil-C' activity. But their message is that photovoltaic energy by itself can do a lot. This is, of course, completely true. There is no attempt to suggest that commercial air transport can run on anything other than jet engines burning kerosene (which means algae from a long time ago, or made just recently). The technology is good enough (else they would not have set off), human and weather factors are in play. It has always been so, I reckon, in long flights to set new crossing records. Seeing the overflight here would be great for me, but I might jet to Chongqing to see that bird on the ground. If this team can later get to HNL, they will have cracked the nut. Crossing the Atlantic offers several turn-back points, but crossing the Pacific is a biatch. A quick look at flightradar24 will reveal how most kerosene/jet birds handle that problem. They don't spend XXX hours over the big open. Godspeed, Solar Impulse 2.
Sorry - I was being lazy. Sounds like they should have no problem, then. The one time I flew into HNL, I remember thinking how scary it would be if you were doing it on your own: it really is a tiny speck in a vast nothingness. And five days on oxygen supplies by yourself.... that would be weird. But it is a brilliant project. You should definitely go to Chongqing to see it if you can.
Second leg complete. 1434 km in 15 hr 20 min*. Now that each pilot has had a day in the box, they are apparently going to spend a few on the ground in Ahmedabad. Promoting solar energy is the plan, and this aircraft makes a good scenic backdrop. * this appears faster than the rated air speed. Tailwinds.
The leg to Mandalay followed soon after, but followed by a long stay there. Waiting for better weather over China. The leg to Chongching (which I might just possibly see ) could be as early as tomorrow. I hope local media picks up on this.
I would be more impressed if it were automated and non-stop, circled the globe ... multiple times. Bob Wilson
Except it is in the atmosphere where gases and weather can be studied up-close and personal ... assuming it is high enough to avoid turbulence that would rip it apart. In effect, it can be a motorized weather balloon ... assuming it can handle the high altitude cold. For example, 'sprites' (sp?) the cloud-top lightning effects, this could be a great platform to get facts and data not available today. Also, it might be interesting to orbit around tornado producing storms at the tops to see what is going on. Bob Wilson
I know but I'm interested in seeing more of these platforms. They can help fill in a data gap between ground observations and high altitude. This is an area where satellite calibration could benefit. I've been reading a paper on calibration of satellite temperature observations. Having an unmanned probe to take metrics over longer periods than humans can endure, this could expand our understanding and improve climate models. Bob Wilson
They are already around in testing. Some still in planning stages. Google Snatches Up Solar Powered Drone Company Titan Aerospace, Beating Facebook « Great Things from Small Things .. Nanotechnology Innovation A Solar-Powered Drone Designed To Fly For Five Years Nonstop | Popular Science Facebook to provide Internet using solar-powered drones I imagine a manned solar plane capable of a continuous global flight isn't far off. Rutan Voyager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Departure from Mandalay was this (Monday local) morning predawn Solar Impulse departs Myanmar for China - Yahoo Finance Due to terrain, this is going to be done with O2 and probably difficult to see from ground, even directly on flight path
SI2 is still hanging out in Chongching, waiting for a weather window. I am otherwise committed so can't go see it. Anybody in Hawaii, pay attention when that leg happens because it will is the longest of all. History in the making
Now en route to Nanjing. They will wait there for good weather prospects, then the absurd 5-day solo flight to Hawaii.
The absurd 5-day flight has begun. Nanjing local time 2:40 am departure. This means climb to altitude on battery power. If anyone has a good link for west pacific prognosis charts, please post it. Image from AFP & BBC
OK by me if this is not the matter of greatest interest here, but I posted the image above because this might be the last time we see this plane. Borschberg now has a very difficult task of staying awake and wrangling the beast. I reckon he would be recovered after ditching, they have good support. But the flyer would not be. A successful arrival in Hawaii means that Piccard has to take another absurdly long trip, after.
