Shortly after sunrise, the Solar Impulse 2 plane took off this Monday from Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, with a historic roadmap: to go around the world using only solar energy .
The goal is for it to land again in the city of the Persian Gulf next August after traveling 35,000 kilometers, although the actual travel time (that is, soaring through the skies) will be 25 days , spaced on several scales. The most complicated of all, between China and Hawaii and with a single driver, will last five consecutive days.
The Solar Impulse 2 incorporates 17,000 solar cells placed along its 72 meter wing; it is wider, for example, than a Boeing 747. But because it is built with carbon fiber, it has a total weight of only 2.3 tons. It will fly at a maximum height of 8,500 meters and will reach a speed of between 50 and 100 kilometers per hour .
The entire operation will be controlled by a team of engineers from Monaco. "We want to share our vision of a cleaner future," said the drivers, André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard. "Climate change offers a fantastic opportunity to bring new green technologies to market." Of course, if the Solar Impulse 2 (corrected and expanded successor to the Solar Impulse 1 prototype) manages to cross the Atlantic and the Pacific without using a gram of fossil fuels, the dream of living on a sustainable planet will take on new momentum .
