A prototype of the Solar Impulse sits inside a hangar. The Solar Impulse 2 flew out of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, March 9, 2015, for the start of its round-the-world flight. SCREENGRAB FROM SOLARIMPULSE.COM
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirate – A Swiss solar-powered plane has taken off from Abu Dhabi, marking the start of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel.
Solar Impulse founder André Borschberg was at the controls Monday morning.
Borschberg will trade off piloting with Solar Impulse co-founder Bertrand Piccard during stop-overs. Some legs of the trip, such as over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, could mean five or six straight days of flying solo.
They say their aim is to create awareness about replacing “old polluting technologies with clean and efficient technologies.”
The flight will begin and end in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.
Solar Impulse was behind the first aircraft able to fly day and night without fuel, propelled solely by the sun’s energy.
The Si2 aircraft is a single-seater made of carbon fiber. It has 17,248 solar cells that supply the plane with renewable energy. The solar cells recharge four lithium polymer batteries totaling 633 kilograms (1395 pounds) each.
The plane has a 72-meter (236-foot) wingspan, larger than that of the Boeing 747, but weighs just 2,300 kilograms (5,070 pounds), about as much as a car.
The duo plan stops in Oman, India, Myanmar and China, before heading across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii.
After Hawaii, they head to Phoenix, AZ, and New York’s biggest airport, John F. Kennedy International. The path across the Atlantic will depend on the weather, and could include a stop in Southern Europe or Morocco before ending in Abu Dhabi in late July.