Solar Impulse aircraft to circumnavigate the globe without fuel
A dream comes true
Flying around the world without fuel – powered only by the sun. What sounds like a fantasy is to become reality in 2014 – with innovative materials from Bayer MaterialScience.
Airborne adventure: a solar-powered plane is scheduled to fly around the world without fuel.
The company has been an official partner of the Swiss “Solar Impulse” project since 2010. The Solar Impulse team is developing the first manned aircraft capable of flying day and night without fuel, powered entirely by solar energy.
This brought the initial phase of the adventure launched by Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg to a successful conclusion, validating their goal of demonstrating the enormous potential of new technologies for saving energy and applying renewable forms of energy.
More than two dozen researchers are working at the laboratories of Bayer MaterialScience on ideas for lightweight construction and energy efficiency.
A prototype of the aircraft with the wingspan of a large airliner but weighing no more than a midsize car has already successfully completed the first day and night test flights. The Solar Impulse HB-SIA took off on its maiden flight in April 2010, and its first nighttime flight followed in July 2010. Since then one of the pilots and co-founder André Borschberg has flown from Switzerland to Belgium and France.
During the day, 12,000 solar cells on the surface of the aircraft power four electric motors and charge the four lithium polymer batteries, weighing altogether 400 kilograms, enabling the HB-SIA to fly with solar energy during the night.
Circumnavigating the globe in stages
The second and more advanced Solar Impulse aircraft will need to be even more lightweight and stable so that it can circumnavigate the globe. This is a considerable challenge, according to Patrick Thomas, CEO of Bayer MaterialScience: “One of our tasks is to construct a cockpit weighing no more than 20 kilograms but is still capable of withstanding the enormous temperature differences encountered during flight. All our employees involved are excited about this bold venture and are giving their best to make the project a success.”
The Solar Impulse project implements the very things already anchored in the Bayer philosophy, “Science For A Better Life”, and this includes conducting research to bring about change and make life better and more progressive. The technologies developed for the Solar Impulse project are transferable to many other areas of everyday life, offering new solutions that benefit energy efficiency in, for example, computers, refrigerators or automotive applications.
