Solar Impulse successfully crosses Pacific Ocean

[webfact]

Solar Impulse successfully crosses Pacific Ocean



MOUNTAIN VIEW: -- Solar Impulse has successfully crossed the Pacific Ocean to land at Moffett Federal Airfield in California.

The aircraft, which is fuelled entirely by the sun, set off from Hawaii on Thursday for stage nine of the trip.

Solar Impulse began its epic journey in Abu Dhabi in March, 2015.

Stage nine, a 4,000-kilometre leg of the trip comes off the back of an eight-month hiatus for repairs to its batteries.

Prior to that, its two pilots had taken turns to fly it across Oman, India, Myanmar, China and Japan.

From there, it started the five day, five night, journey to Hawaii, setting the record for the longest-ever non-stop solo aeroplane flight.

The pilots intend to cross the US mainland next, aiming to reach New York by the start of June, 2016, before tackling the Atlantic Ocean.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-04-25

[northernphil]

A great success ...................as for that commentator , where did they find her ?

[DM07]

Ah!

Just another feel- good story for leftists and hippies, to distract from the fact, that fossile fuel is the only way to go!

[ggt]

This is great news...far reaching implications for future travel around the US and in space without leaving behind a trail of noxious gases...

However, the distribution of Renewable Energy will not be an easy task...Power Companies have been fighting against Renewable Energy for years...

Worse case...charging extra to a home which is on the power grid...yet produces most of their electricity via Solar Power...(penalized for producing clean power)

Politicians are extremely interested in this dilemma...and enjoy the contributions of the Power Companies to sway legislation...

The people will have to rise up and demand change to disrupt the status quo...

Greed is still in vogue...

[JetsetBkk]

Ah!

Just another feel- good story for leftists and hippies, to distract from the fact, that fossile fuel is the only way to go!

Exactly.

Don't forget the tree huggers.

[RickBradford]

This is a tremendous engineering and flying achievement, which only goes to underline what a ridiculously poor source of energy solar power is.

A solar collector the size of a Boeing 747's wings generates just enough energy to keep aloft a plane weighing the same as an SUV. It has taken 15 months to get halfway round the world.

The stated aim of the mission is "to promote the use of renewable energies". Aside from its commendable and gallant flying achievement, all it has done is confirm, if confirmation were needed, that solar power has fundamental limitations which will prevent it ever becoming a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

[impulse]

This is a tremendous engineering and flying achievement, which only goes to underline what a ridiculously poor source of energy solar power is.

A solar collector the size of a Boeing 747's wings generates just enough energy to keep aloft a plane weighing the same as an SUV. It has taken 15 months to get halfway round the world.

The stated aim of the mission is "to promote the use of renewable energies". Aside from its commendable and gallant flying achievement, all it has done is confirm, if confirmation were needed, that solar power has fundamental limitations which will prevent it ever becoming a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

IMO, the "commendable and gallant" flying achievement was the dumbest part of the project. The guys let their egos and desire for fame and adventure get in the way of a pretty useful goal. It also drove up the cost of the project, and created safety risks that weren't needed at all. Unless you want to be famous for taking risks...

Think of the applications of the technology as a semi-permanent surveillance drone (military, weather, agriculture, astronomy, ???), or a Google type WiFi repeater for the middle of nowhere, or any of dozens of uses for a plane that can fly virtually forever without refueling, albeit with a limited load. Add a passenger, and they need to come down occasionally anyway for food, water (and sex).

Instead, they went for ego, and ended up with a pretty useless flight that was years in the making, cost $$$ millions, put lives at risk, and proved pretty much nothing practical. Certainly did zilch to push ahead with solar energy, anyway.

Edited April 26, 2016 by impulse