The Solar Impulse team started crossing the Pacific last summer, with pilot André Borschberg landing in Hawaii after a record-breaking flight of five nights and five days, according to a press release. Borschberg had taken off in Japan. Battery damage interrupted the round-the-world flight, which Piccard successfully resumed on Thursday.
“Last year we demonstrated that Solar Impulse is capable of flying five days and five nights non-stop: the airplane, the technologies, the human being,” commented André Borschberg. “Now what we want to do is continue our flight around the world and demonstrate that these technologies can be used, not only in an airplane, but on the ground. That is why Bertrand initiated the project and I am moved that he will be experiencing full day and night cycles without any fuel.”
The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) highlighted Solar Impulse’s partnerships with the Federal Institutes of Technology and Swiss companies. It said in a press release that the solar aircraft was “a symbol of an innovative nation in terms of sustainable development and environmental protection.”
Solar Impulse 2 is expected to land at the Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, California, on Saturday. The round-the-world solar flight will then continue, aiming for Abu Dhabi, where it originally departed from.