Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg concluded the first round-the-world solar flight, powered only by the sun, with no fuel or polluting emissions.

They started their Journey in Abu Dhabi, UAE on 9 March 2015 and returned to Abu Dhabi on 26 July 2016. During their flight, they covered a distance of around 40,000 km. After their world-record solo flight of 5 days and 5 nights from Japan to Hawaii, they had to take a break of around 9 months to re-adjust some technology.

The route:

  1. Abu Dhabi, UAE to Muscat, Oman on 9 March2015 in 13 Hours 1 Minute, 772 km
  2. Muscat, Oman to Ahmedabad, India on 10 March 2015 in 15 Hours 20 minutes, 1593 km
  3. Ahmedabad, India to Varanasi, India on 18 March2015 in 13 Hours 15 Minutes, 1170 km
  4. Varanasi, India to Mandalay, Myanmar on 18/19 March 2015 in 13 Hours 29 Minutes, 1536 km
  5. Mandalay, Myanmar to Chongqing, China on 29/30 March 2015 in 20 Hours 29 Minutes, 1636 km
  6. Chongqing, China to Nanjing, China on 20/21 April 2015 in 17 Hours 22 Minutes, 1384 km
  7. Nanjing, China to Nagoya, Japan on 1 June2015 in 1 Day 20 Hours 9 Minutes, 2942 km
  8. Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii, USA on 28 June – 3 July2015 in 4 Days 21 Hours 9 Minutes, 8924 km
  9. Hawaii, USAto San Francisco, USAon 21-24 April 2016 in 2 Days 14 Hours 29 Minutes, 4086 km
  10. San Francisco, USA to Phoenix, USA on 2/3 May 2016 in 15 Hours 52 Minutes, 1199 km
  11. Phoenix, USA to Tulsa, USA on 12/13 May 2016 in 18 Hours 10 Minutes, 1570 km
  12. Tulsa, USA to Dayton, USA on 21/22 May 2016 in 16 Hours 34 Minutes, 1113 km
  13. Dayton, USA to Lehigh Valley, USA on 25/26 May 2016 in 16 Hours 49 Minutes, 1044 km
  14. Lehigh Valley, USA to New York, USA on 11 June 2016 in 4 Hours 41 Minutes, 265 km
  15. New York, USA to Seville, Spain on 20-23 June 2016 in 2 Days 23 Hours 8 Minutes, 6765 km
  16. Seville, Spain to Cairo, Egypt on 11-13 July 2016 in 2 Days 50 Minutes, 3745 km
  17. Cairo, Egypt to Abu Dhabi, UAE on 23-26 July 2016 in 2 Days 37 Minutes, 2694 km

World record achievements

8 world records were already achieved by the solar Impulse prototype, including the first solar plane to fly through the night, the first solar plane to fly between two continents and the first solar plane to fly across the USA.The recent world record achievements include the first Round-the-world solar flight, the record-breaking flight from Japan to Hawaii in 117 Hours and the first solar plane to have crossed the world’s two biggest oceans.

Technology behind the solar Impulse 2 plane

Solar Impulse 2 is a one-seater plane, fitted with 17,248 solar cellson top of the wings.It was a wingspan of 72 metersand weighs 2300 kg.4 batteries (with 38.5 kWh per battery) are connected to electric motors and aircraft propeller.The batteries store the extra energy produced by the solar cells during the day, giving back the energy to the motors during the night.It took 13 years to achieve this first round-the-world solar flight in history with the first airplane to fly day and night without a single drop of fuel.Theoretically, the plane could go on unlimited.

A message to fight climate change

The achievement of the first round-the-world solar flight is supposed to send a message for a cleaner future.The systems developed for Solar Impulse 2 could be used anywhere to fight global climate change and stop wasting natural resources.

The challenge is to commercialize the system and have it used on a broader scale.Main partners of Solar Impulse 2 are Solvay, Omega, Schindler and ABB. Official partners are Google, Altran, Covestro, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, Swisscom, and Moet Hennessy. Guest partner MASDAR in Abu Dhabi and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
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