Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Solar Impulse is a Swiss long-range experimental solar-powered aircraft project, and also the name of the project's two operational aircraft. [1] The privately financed project is led by Swiss engineer and businessman André Borschberg and Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist Bertrand Piccard, who co-piloted Breitling Orbiter 3, the first balloon to circle the world non-stop. [2]
Solvay is a main partner of Solar Impulse and has contributed research and development resources to their solar powered airplane project. That aircraft conducted its first test flight on 3. December 2009, and since then has made solar-powered flights from Switzerland to Spain and Morocco in 2012. [43]
The Solar Impulse Foundation receives financial support from its 16 corporate sponsors, which include Swiss food and drink company Nestlé, an organization that helped provide food for the two pilots on the round-the-world flight Solar Impulse 2; Air Liquide, Solvay, and others, as well as private donors. [2] [16]
But Borschberg flew the Solar Impulse 2 without fuel. Instead, its wings were equipped with 17,000 solar cells that powered propellers and charged batteries. The plane ran on stored energy at night.
During their travel around the world, Borschberg and Piccard brought together about four hundred associations promoting renewable energy. [3] [2] As of June 2017, several multinational corporations are members of the Alliance, among which Solvay, historical partner of Solar Impulse, Air Liquide and Engie.
Owing to international funding for the project, the Solar Impulse is a European craft, not a Swiss one, despite scientific and medical assistance from the EPFL and Hirslanden Clinique Cecil. In 2010, Solar Impulse 1 (Si1) made its first nighttime flight. In 2011, it landed at Bourget Field in Paris. In 2012, it made its first intercontinental ...
A new trend for 2024 was diversification of these purchases to include not just wind and solar but also nuclear. Electric vehicle sales reached 1.5 million in 2024 , growing by 6.5%.
André Borschberg (born 13 December 1952) is a Swiss entrepreneur, explorer, pilot, and professional speaker.He is the co-founder and CEO of Solar Impulse. [1] In July 2016, he co-piloted and successfully completed the first manned solar-powered flight to circumnavigate the Earth.