DOHA: The Swiss Embassy has organised an exhibition on Solar Impulse and Clean-Technology originating from Switzerland in cooperation with the City Center shopping mall. The event will conclude on
May 13.
Solar Impulse is the first plane to fly around the world completely powered by solar energy. After many feasibility studies and test flights, Solar Impulse took off finally on March 9 this year from Abu Dhabi. The schedule of the journey depends on weather and other operational conditions. Solar Impulse is expected to complete the journey around the world toward the beginning of next month in Abu Dhabi, a press statement said.
The first solar powered plane is able to fly day and night. It will land at 12 locations across the planet. Upon completion of the journey, it will have travelled 35,000 kilometres without a drop of fuel. It has a wingspan of 72m (larger than that of a Boeing 747) and 17,248 solar cells built into wing to supply four electric motors (17.5 hp each). Solar Impulse just weighs 2,300 kg, equivalent to the weight of a car.
The idea was born sixteen years ago in Switzerland in 1999, when Dr Bertrand Piccard flew around the world with a hot air balloon in a non-stop-journey. By initiating the Solar Impulse project and aiming to fly round the world in a solar plane, he is seeking to promote technologies that help conserve our planet’s natural resources.
He shares control of this project with André Borschberg, just as he shares with him the controls of the aircraft. Being an engineer by education and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Management Science and as a former jet-fighter pilot in the Swiss Airforce, he directed the construction of the aircraft and the preparation of the flight missions.
The expertise of the European Space Agency (ESA) has proved invaluable in several areas of technology: batteries and solar cells, energy management systems and ultra-light construction materials. The Peninsula
