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posted by takyon on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the cell-of-an-achievement,-captain-piccard dept.

Sonnenseite reports:

History was made [July 26] when Bertrand Piccard gently touched the nose of the Solar Impulse 2 (SI2) aircraft down on to the hot, dry runway in Abu Dhabi [United Arab Emerites] at 4:05 am local time, marking the end point of an epic journey that began in this same spot 17 months ago.

The SI2's epic journey has covered 43,000km [26,700 miles], made 16 stops, crossed both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and captured the world's imagination by doing all this without a single drop of fuel. Upon emerging from the one-man cockpit, Bertrand was immediately embraced by fellow pilot and Solar Impulse co-founder Andre Borschberg, who shared flying duties during the historic journey.

Covered in 17,248 SunPower solar cells, it was the sun what won it: Solar PV technology kept the plane in the skies and ensured there was enough juice in the four lithium polymer batteries to fly through the night.

Our previous coverage of Solar Impulse 2.


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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:19PM (#381310)

    by cutting his head off and screaming God is Great!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @01:06AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @01:06AM (#381387)

      God is Great!
      Oil is Great!
      Soylent Green is Great!

      And then they made him into biodiesel and chow for their animals.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:55PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:55PM (#381320)

    Now, can you please make it in less time than the same trip takes in a sailboat?
    45 days 13 hours shouldn't be that hard to beat, now that you've proven the concept.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:11PM

      by frojack (1554) on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:11PM (#381327) Journal

      And maybe without a complete battery replacement half way through the mission.

      On the other hand, if Boeing and Tesla can't prevent battery fires why should these guys be expected to do so.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:27PM

      by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:27PM (#381335)

      According to a documentary I read [wikipedia.org], sailing may take a little longer than that.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by bob_super on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:48PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:48PM (#381345)

        The 45 days 13 hours record is the property of the current Jules Verne Trophy holder, which was named thus for reasons you might guess.
        The 80 days threshold was even broken by a single-crewed monohull in 2013, 20 years after the first full-crewed multi-hull did it on the first JVT.
        And that's without assistance. Getting food/equipment refills on the go would probably cut a few days by lightening the boats at the start.
        Man those guys are fast...

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_world_sailing_record [wikipedia.org]

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by subs on Friday July 29 2016, @12:31AM

          by subs (4485) on Friday July 29 2016, @12:31AM (#381377)

          And that's without assistance.

          This is what makes this whole thing hilarious. It's literally faster to go solo, without assistance and non-stop in a fucking sailboat than it is to fly in that SI2. It's such a turd that as soon as a breeze picks up, they're grounded. Oh and there's a good reason why they flew eastward. If they tried it the other way around, there's a good chance they'd be going backwards in places. It's a little trick that mostly on pilots know about.

        • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday July 29 2016, @08:16AM

          by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Friday July 29 2016, @08:16AM (#381450)

          Oh, I missed that part where they took more than a year to complete their trip.

          Heck, 80 days should be a reasonable target.

          I think there is a reason that the only organisms really using solar power don't move much. I suppose you can argue that reptiles use solar power as well, but the supplement it with protein.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:20PM (#381331)

    How come this plane lands by touching the nose down onto the runway?

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:45PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @09:45PM (#381344)

      because it has glider style landing gear with one wheel in the front so it lands on that...

  • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday July 28 2016, @10:25PM

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Thursday July 28 2016, @10:25PM (#381356) Journal

    Going to have to add this to PIcard's woe is me scene in the same movie I lifted my sig from.

    TROI: Your family history is very important to you, isn't it?

    PICARD: Right. Oh, ...from being a small child, I can remember being told about the family line. The Picard who fought at Trafalgar. The Picard who made the first solar powered flight around the Earth. The Picard who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry. The Picards who settled the first Martian colony.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Thursday July 28 2016, @11:23PM

    by Arik (4543) on Thursday July 28 2016, @11:23PM (#381366) Journal
    As long as you don't count, the many, many gallons of fuel used to produce the craft and deliver it of course.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @12:18AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @12:18AM (#381376)

      Do not forget the trips of support staff. Spare parts. Hawaii electric grid where they had to stay while being repaired And. And

    • (Score: 1) by mbo42 on Friday July 29 2016, @01:19AM

      by mbo42 (5378) on Friday July 29 2016, @01:19AM (#381389)

      As long as you don't count, the many, many gallons of fuel used to produce the craft and deliver it of course

      I found a club for you to join ;-) http://manwillneverfly.com/ [manwillneverfly.com]

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 29 2016, @01:58AM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 29 2016, @01:58AM (#381399) Journal

      Moderated flamebait? Really? I say that's preposterous.

      All of us evaluate our own purchases, such as cars, based on a number of criteria. Cost, fuel efficiency, maintenance, sportiness, durability, sexiness. We spend our money on whatever seems to meet our needs.

      Arik points out that there are a lot of hidden costs associated with this aircraft. In point of fact, the story gives an idea of the huge logistics train required to complete this flight. IMHO, this glider did NOT complete a round-the-world flight. In fact, it made a series of separate flights, which when all connected together, circumnavigated the globe.

      This flight around the world was so costly, that very few people could afford to duplicate it.

      Without a single drop of fuel? It is reasonable to point out that the logistics train that followed this aircraft probably consumed tens of thousands of gallons of fuel.

      Maybe I've convinced someone that they need to run out and buy a glider just like this one.

      All of that said - yeah, it's kinda neat that they finally accomplished their mission. Maybe it will generate the interest and support to push research into useful aircraft, and useful solar power. That would be good, but that is all that they can claim for this flight.

      Seventeen months to fly around the world. Clipper ships were beating that in the 1800's.

    • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday July 29 2016, @02:34AM

      by MostCynical (2589) on Friday July 29 2016, @02:34AM (#381404) Journal

      Because, of course, *every* advance in technology or human achievement should be assessed on total cost.

      Total cost recovery for everything!

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex