Haipai's Blog

Payerne, Switzerland (AHN) – The prototype of the first solar-powered plane took off in Payerne, Switzerland Wednesday and stayed airborne for 87 minutes before touching down.

Test pilot Markus Scherdel guided the single-seat “Solar Impulse” that flew to a height of 3,900 feet and speed of 28 miles per hour.
Four 10-horsepower electric motors propelled the plane, which has a wingspan similar to an Airbus A340 airliner and weighs 3,527 pounds or a family-sized car.

12,000 solar cells cover the plane’s wings and charges a 881-pound battery packs that power the electric motors.
The Solar Impulse first took off in December flying 400 meters and one meter above the Payerne runway.

The 70-man team that developed the aircraft next plans to fly the plane in darkness for 36 hours non-stop and then fly it around the world by 2013.

Tags: Sci - 查看/参与评论»

随机标签相关日志

This entry was posted on 星期四, 四月 8th, 2010 at 7:15 上午 and is filed under Global. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.