{"id":9977,"date":"2013-04-22T07:35:18","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T14:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bradblog.com\/?p=9977"},"modified":"2013-04-21T23:43:25","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T06:43:25","slug":"solar-aviation-moves-slowly-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=9977","title":{"rendered":"Solar-Powered Plane Set for Cross-Country Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

A solar-powered plane, known as the Solar Impulse<\/a>, is cable of flying both day and night without fuel, courtesy of 12,000 photovotaic cells and batteries. The plane, “born in Switzerland”, is set to commence a cross-country journey from San Francisco to New York on May 1, following a test flight in the Bay area<\/a> on Friday. It is scheduled to make a number of stops along the way, flying some 20 to 26 hours each leg.<\/p>\n

In the face of long standing concerns about global pollution from jet aircraft<\/a>, Solar Impulse is a positive step, but still a ways from being a practical one given the size of the one seat aircraft and a top speed that is only about 40 mph.<\/p>\n

But its still pretty cool. The major goal of the project is for a round-the-world flight<\/a>, now scheduled for 2015. Here’s a look at an earlier 2010 test flight of Solar Impulse, back when its goal for a global flight was still scheduled for 2012…<\/p>\n