Video: What It's Like to Fly a Solar Airplane
Solar Impulse 2 flies over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Saturday, April 23, 2016. Noah Berger/AP
Slow and steady wins the race.
The Solar Impulse 2, a completely solar-powered airplane, is working its way across the globe. The journey began in the United Arab Emirates in March 2015.
The Solar Impulse only goes about 50 miles per hour, which is a lot slower than your average jet. But it can stay aloft for days at a time. It has 17,248 solar cells cover the craft and all of that solar energy gathered is stored inside Lithium polymer batteries.
"The only reason to land, is to change the pilot when the pilot is too tired," said pilot Bertrand Piccard.
While the aircraft's wingspan is bigger than a 747, it only weighs as much as a car and has a cockpit space even smaller than that.
"If this were successful, we knew we had an airplane that was sustainable in terms of energy. Now, the big question is how to make the pilot sustainable as well." said another Solar Impulse pilot André Borschberg.
If you'd like to see the Solar Impulse 2 in action, the plane is next heading east across the United States. Look up and you might catch it, or you can just check out the video below from Wired: