Would you take a ride on Solar Plane?

What if my solar plane runs low on energy in the middle of the night on top of an Ocean? Yikes Noooo! In reality, the thought of going through this gives me chills and anxiety, but not to worry, I just heard about Solar Planes, and this thought came into my mind. Yikes. I began to research more, and I found out it was not bad at all and sounded very cool. And if I can sit on one hand down, I will be on board.


Solar Planes


Enough about me and my thoughts; Solar Impulse 2 was the name of the first solar plane, and Bertrand Biccard came up with the idea in 1999 when he took a world tour in his hot air balloon. Fear of fuel drop day by day made him worry that if runs out and not enough. It made him think of a better solution, and right then, he came up with an idea to lose fuel. Genius, right? I thought so. Biccard reached out to many aviation partners, faced a lot of rejection, and was told repeatedly that his idea could not work in real time. It would need a humongous amount of solar cells to power its Propellers which, in layperson's terms, a Plane has to be long and light simultaneously. Well, there is a saying that when there is a will, there's a way; Biccard connected with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, where he combined with Andre Borchberg, he is an engineer and entrepreneur, and he was amused by Biccard's idea and agreed to work together. They announced the Joint venture in 2003. Duo worked together for 13 years. They reached out to investors and industry partners and worked down to the nitty gritty in developing the first Solar Impulse 2.


 Solar Impulse 2 had wings larger than Jumbo Plane yet only weighed 5000lbs. It sure was a piece of art. Did you know the average family car weighs around the same as Solar Impulse 2? They had to blanket the wings and fuselage with photovoltaic cells, lighter than human hair, which helped charge the plane's lithium battery during the day and enough charged battery to fly at night. Duo faced many challenges, such as weather, being lightweight, and always passing on a curved path. The Duo had to repurpose solar cells, batteries, and even motors because they didn't have the budget; they were aware of all the challenges they would face but didn't give up, nor did their team. Even with the challenges, work was pretty impressive; Duo did fly and took turns to tend to plane demands; they had to be very careful due to its lightweight winds that could easily blow away the plane. Solar planes can only fly 30,000 feet during the day and only 5000 ft at night. Planes can only fly one person; the pilot cockpit is the size of a refrigerator, is unpressurized, and has a toilet. Solar Impulse could fly only 30 miles per hour to save energy. Despite all of these challenges, Both Biccard and Andre had their eye on the prize. 


Biccard vision significantly impacted the aviation industry, and now other countries have started their research in building fuel-efficient engines for their planes. It Ignited a fire, and that's what Biccard's dream was. In 2017 Biccard Launched World Alliant for efficient solutions, which connect investors and the Government to find profitable solutions for the environment.



I think it's pretty cool that Solar planes are here, but we must do more work to make them accessible to the Normal Public. An aircraft with such long wings and being lightweight will add more risk. That's the task the aviation industry still needs to work But Overall Love the concept and Technology. Feel free to reach out or Post any Comments if you would like me to write articles on any Topic.