In green travel news, a solar-powered plane took flight in Switzerland this week. Designed to fly both day and night, the Solar Impulse, spearheaded by Dr. Bertrand Piccard has 12,000 solar cells built into its wings, and runs without the fuel and leaves no emissions. The aircraft is a prototype for a larger plane that will hopefully fly around the world in 2012 without the use of fuel.
For almost an hour and a half, German test pilot Markus Schedel flew the Solar Impulse 3.973 feet in the air.
The aircraft, which took six years to build, has the wingspan of an Airbus A340 and weighs 3,527 pounds. In December the plane first took flight for a test run near Zurich.
The propeller plane is made of carbon fibers, and is powered by four electric motors. It saves energy from its solar cells and high performance batteries, and Piccard hopes that it will reach a speed for 44 miles per hour, and elevate to 27,900 feet. The project’s budget is $100 million Swiss francs (approx. $94 million).
