Solar Impulse Prototype First Flight

[davidrodgersNJ]

What happens if you fly under a cloud?

[txeriff2k6]

well, its ok for fun, but it is not possible to make a fast airplane with solar power. solar cells provide low volts (3 or 4 volts maybe, dont remeber but not much), not much power. Thats why it has shorter wings, to prevent induced resistance like in no engine airplanes (those who need to be pulled by another aircraft in the air)

[TheGtaKevin]

Slowly airplane. I followed this project about 3 months. But I think that there has to change a lot, to get a better speed. This is just NOTHING .

Kevin

[rhugswiss]

The real maiden flight was today. A huge sucess but still a long way to go.

[neardeathuser]

big improvement over the older nasa model

[masimons]

Nice,just hope he never noses in and damage all those props. Looks like center of gravity behind the pilot.

[roidroid]

i hope it has a good autopilot, as a person can't stay awake that long.

Also i imagine a computer would fly it more efficiently, i imagine efficiency is the central design issue of this craft.

[mutexnet]

reminds me of kitty hawk..... the beginning of a new age.

[LTF85199]

Neat, I am very optimisticabout feasiblity of a solar/eletric aviation era,

[RoboTekno]

hybrid car and hybrid plane drag race

[RoboTekno]

epic