Swiss Team Plans To Fly Solar Plane All Night

[Dogmudgeon]

I love this headline!

Of course I'm aware that they are going to store part of the electricity in batteries to allow them to keep going at night, but sometimes the headline scribes get to slip a little comedy past the PR department.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5goDxf8Obh9y8tOk6Nse1GMEmSXWgD9GBQEQG1">Swiss Team Plans To Fly Solar Plane All Night

GENEVA — A Swiss team hoping to fly a solar-powered plane around the world in 2012 says it plans to take a prototype for an all-night spin later this month.

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Borschberg says being able to fly through the night will allow the plane to stay airborne for successive cycles and come close to permitting perpetual flight.

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But seriously, folks ... you can ogle SolarImpulse's goods in awe at its http://www.solarimpulse.com/index.php">impressive, inspiring website.

The thing that has hitherto been considered impossible is however the goal that Solar Impulse has set itself: to conceive an airplane capable of taking off autonomously and maintaining itself in flight for several days without any fuel, and propelling itself solely by means of the energy collected by the solar cells mounted on its wings.

As a supplementary difficulty, the energy gathered during the day will have to serve not only to propel the plane, but also to recharge the batteries to ensure flying by night. It is essential for the pilot to approach each night with full batteries and economize available energy to the maximum, to be able to stay in the air until the next sunrise.

Therefore, the greatest challenge, before the round-the-world trip, will be the first complete night flight.

http://www.solarimpulse.com/index.php">SolarImpulse

I also think that solar thermal energy systems would be ideally suited to the new generation of dirigibles or "LTAs" (Lighter-Than Air craft). In such aircraft, regulating heat loss would be the primary challenge. If there is a niche for highway-speed air transportation -- of people and/or cargo -- at a low cost, such LTAs could fill it.

--d!