Our Future In:Solar Impulse HB-SIA Across America Mission
Dear Friends, Visitors/Viewers/Readers,
(Please click on red links below)
________________________________________________________________________________________
Our update on Solar-FIT For Sunshine State petition: 161 signatures! Please join us by signing and sharing this petition with others
______________________________________________________________________________
This just came down the wire! About four hours ago, Solar Impulse (in our previous posts of Solar Impulse HB-SIA-Solar Plane (1) and HB-SIA Solar Plane (2))
Solar Impulse HB-SIA
took off on the first leg (between San Francisco and Phoenix) of an aerial odyssey across America without a drop of fuel! Solar Impulse, piloted by Bertrand Piccard this morning, took off from Moffett Field into the Bay Area’s skies at 9:12 A.M. ET and headed south toward Arizona. “A flying laboratory for clean technologies, this prototype is the result of seven years of intense work in the fields of materials science, energy management and man-machine interface,” Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse’s co-founder and CEO, said before the flight. Borschberg and Piccard will be taking turns in the pilot’s seat for a month-long series of flights that will end up in New York around July 4th. Each leg of this odyssey will be streamed from this site and the project plans to collect thousands of names that will be added to a “Clean Generation” list of supporters carried in the cockpit.
All of Solar Impulse’s power comes from its 12,000 photovoltaic cells on the upper wing surface and store the electrical energy in its lithium polymer batteries under the wing when the sun isn’t shining. This carbon fiber aircraft has a long/wide wingspan and light design because the plane generates as much power as a motor scooter for its four 10-horsepower motors.
Just a quick refresher on Solar Impulse: Its pilot and co-founder Piccard is a record-setting, round-the-world balloonist who draws financial backing from Swiss business. In 2010 Solar Impulse took on the world’s first solar-powered 26-hour night flight in Switzerland. In 2011, it completed the first international solar flight from Switzerland, Belgium to France. In 2012, it completed the first solar-powered intercontinental flight from Europe to North Africa.
In the next few months Solar Impulse will be flying from Phoenix to Dallas-Fort Worth, then to St. Louis, Washington, and New York. For Borschberg and Piccard, this is simply a warm-up before their future ultimate goal and venture in circumnavigating the world with solar power. Allow me to share with you a short video clip: view of Solar Impulse’s HB-SIA and Piccard’s comments:
Allow me to leave you with what Solar Impulse represents, “We are a people-powered movement challenging conventional thinking to inspire innovation, hope and action among citizens and policymakers. Together, let’s promote this pioneering spirit!”
~have a bright and sunny day~
Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Any comments and/or suggestions will be welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.sunisthefuture.net
Tags: Across America, Arizona, Belgium, circumnavigating the world, Clean Generation, France, HB-SIA, lithium polymer batteries, Moffett Field, North Africa, odyssey, Phoenix, photovoltaic cells, San Francisco, solar cells, Solar Impulse, Sun Is The Future, sunisthefuture, sunisthefuture.net, susan sun nunamaker, Swiss