Solar Impulse plane lands, completing world's first intercontinental flight powered by the sun (photos)

Photo: REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

The Solar Impulse plane project president and pilot Bertrand Piccard lands after a 19-hour flight from Madrid at Rabat's International airport, June 5, 2012. The plane landed in Morocco on Tuesday, completing the world's first intercontinental flight powered by the sun to show the potential for pollution-free air travel.

More about the successful completion of the project here.

Photo: REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

Crew members check the Solar Impulse plane after it landed following a 19-hour flight from Madrid at Rabat's International airport, June 5, 2012.

Photo: REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

The Solar Impulse plane's project president and pilot, Bertrand Piccard (L) celebrates with co-founder and CEO Andre Borschberg (R) and Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) CEO Mustapha Bakkoury after the plane landed.

Sun-powered airplane "Solar Impulse" attempts transcontinental flight

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

MORE: air travel • aviation • Business • Energy • exploration • flight • planes • Science • solar

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The Snowden Principle

James Salsman

There have been many more heavy-duty and multi-passenger electric aircraft in the past couple years; up from essentially zero prior to that. They are chronicled on http://blog.cafefoundation.org/
- http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo
  
  Holy crap!
  
  /does a little dance
http://www.facebook.com/mqrius Marius van Voorden

But, but… it’s night!
- IamInnocent
  
  That is why it’s all lit up, to illuminate the solar panels. ;)
  - benher
    
    Dude… if the magnet people find out about this, they’re going to be SO miffed.
Yayan Surohman

Wow it’s great flight..
themac

I think this is way cool but what exactly was the flight path from Madrid to Morocco? Isn’t 19 hours a really long time for that distance?
- http://mjfgates.myopenid.com/ mjfgates
  
  It’s an 838 mile drive, according to Google. So, just about forty-five miles per hour, which is pretty darned slow.
- Ashen Victor
  
  ”Why the flight path from Madrid to Morocco?”
  -Because in summer there are nearly zero clouds over Spain and Morocco.
  
  “Isn’t 19 hours a really long time for that distance?”
  - Yes, it´s a freaking long time.
  - IamInnocent
    
    There is a misunderstanding here: the real achievement is to not drop like an anvil at those speeds.
http://twitter.com/matcatastrophe mat catastrophe

Isn’t everything, ultimately, powered by the sun?
- GlyphGryph
  
  Not geothermal!
  - http://twitter.com/matcatastrophe mat catastrophe
    
    What do you think heated up the geo? Ultimately?
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Gravity, latent heat, radioactive decay.
      - eldritch
        
        The primary source of gravity which produced signficant planetary heating of the earth would have been from the sun. The latent heat, likewise, originally came from the sun. As did the radioactive materials.
        
        So yes, geothermal does ultimately come from the sun.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        The primary source of gravity which produced signficant planetary heating of the earth would have been from the sun.
        
        That’s not how gravity works. Nor is it how latent heat works. I’ll give you the radioactive materials.
      - Mark Dow
        
        The primary source of gravity which produced signficant planetary heating of the earth would have been from the sun.
        
        Heavy radioactive elements responsible for heating are thought to be due to supernova, not from our (the) sun.
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_nucleosynthesis
      - http://twitter.com/matcatastrophe mat catastrophe
        
        Why does “reply” disappear again?
        
        Anyway:
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLkGSV9WDMA
    - GlyphGryph
      
      Geothermal energy comes from the same place the sun came from (the material that eventually formed into the solar system) but that is completely different from coming from the sun.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=673759139 Jeremy Mastroianni
  
  indeed good fellow
- benher
  
  The earth isn’t a closed system, it’s powered by the sun!
  So f”’ those damn creationists, doomsday, get my gun!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=673759139 Jeremy Mastroianni

“man gives thumbs up while soaked in his own urine” :)
niktemadur

…project president and pilot, Bertrand Piccard…

The man gets around, doesn’t he?
Matt Palenske

Finally, one less thing I’ll potentially have to feel guilty about for flying out to see the fam!
Dirk Jennings

Pollution free? Er, no.
schrutzki

Hmm. “Intercontinental Flight” stuns me. Invokes Lindbergh, Earheart et. al.
Still, said continents are a mere 14kms apart…

Reminds me of a visit to Istanbul, where I once jumped (backwards!) from Asia
to Europe :-)
- benher
  
  “Still, said continents are a mere 14kms apart…”
  
  Way to take the solar out of my sails.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JCA22UABMPEALWNFLZD2Z2YCYM Bicycle Bill

Meh — look up and read Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “Sunjammer” (alternate title: “The Wind from the Sun”) if you want to talk about real solar-powered travel.