Solar flight marks 1st round-the-world journey

Associated Press

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The world’s first round-the-world flight to be powered solely by the sun’s energy made history Tuesday as it landed in Abu Dhabi, where it first took off on an epic 25,000-mile journey that began more than a year ago.

Since its March 2015 take off, the Swiss-engineered Solar Impulse 2 has made 16 stops across the world without using a drop of fuel to demonstrate that using the plane’s clean technologies on the ground can halve the world’s energy consumption, save natural resources and improve quality of life.

After landing the plane, pilot Bertrand Piccard was greeted outside the cockpit by his Solar Impulse partner and fellow pilot Andre Borschberg.

“The future is clean. The future is you. The future is now. Let’s take it further,” Piccard said, speaking to applause and cheers from a crowd that included Prince Albert of Monaco.

The aircraft is uniquely powered by 17,248 solar cells that transfer energy to four electrical motors that power the plane’s propellers. It runs on four lithium polymer batteries at night. The plane’s wingspan stretches 236 feet to catch the sun’s energy.

Over its entire mission, Solar Impluse 2 completed more than 500 flight hours, cruising at an average speed of between 28 mph and 56 mph. It made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the U.S., Spain, Italy, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Its North American stops included California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.