The exciting age of solar flights

Image: Amit Dave / Reuters

The Solar Impulse 2, the first round-the-world solar-powered flight, landed in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on March 11, 2015. The Swiss-built aircraft took off from Muscat in Oman on March 10 to begin the second leg of its epic five-month, 35,000-km journey, seeking to demonstrate that flying long distances fuelled by renewable energy is possible. Solar Impulse’s CEO and co-founder Andre Borschberg set the previous record in Solar Impulse 1 when he flew 1,386 km across the US. Solar Impulse 2 is powered by more than 17,000 solar cells built into wings that, at 72 metres, are longer than those of a Boeing 747 and approaching those of an Airbus A380 superjumbo.