World's first solar-powered aircraft to land in Ahmadabad tomorrow

Move over of solar powered mobiles and cars. If a report by PTI is to be believed, world’s only solar-powered aircraft, Solar Impulse, will make a stop over in Ahmedabad tomorrow as a part of its maiden global journey. Reaching Ahmadabad, Impulse’s aircraft's founders and pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg are likely to stay in the city for two days before leaving for Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, a press release issued by the PR of the solar powered aircraft has confirmed.

"Solar Impulse will take off from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and land in Ahmedabad after making a first stop over at Muscat in Oman. It will make a pit-stop in Ahmedabad," PTI has quoted the PR firm.
The founder and pilots will also convey the message of clean technologies to government, NGOs and educational institutes. To spread the message of cleanliness and clean energy, aircraft will take a trip above the Ganga in Varanasi. Claimed by the project’s website, Solar Impulse will fly day and night without any aero fuel and thereby contributing to a cleaner sky.
Piccard and Borschberg, during their stay in the city, will reach out to the government, NGOs, universities and schools to spread the message of clean technologies.

The aircraft is also likely to hover above Ganga river in Varanasi to spread the message of cleanliness and clean energy, an official associated with the project said.

Solar Impulse is claimed to be the first aircraft to fly day and night without a drop of fuel, propelled solely by the sun's energy, as per the project's website.


Made of carbon fibre, The single-seater aircraft has a 72 metre wingspan, larger than that of Boeing-747 and weighs just 2,300 kg, equivalent to the weight of a car, the PTI has further reported.
The 17,248 solar cells built into the wing supply electric motors with renewable energy.

The solar cells recharge four lithium polymer batteries totalling 633 kg each, which allow the aircraft to fly at night and therefore have virtually unlimited autonomy, the report by the news agency has confirmed.

The test flight of the aircraft was conducted in the US in 2013.