Even while the first Solar Impulse was scaling the Alps, traversing the Moroccan desert, and crossing America, skilled craftsmen and women were designing and building Solar Impulse 2, a larger, heavier solar-powered airplane rolled out this week. Its next challenge, that of flying around the world, will test the limits of even this seasoned team. As shown on the first Solar Impulse’s flights, “Flying the Solar Impulse aircraft is quite different from being at the commands of any other airplane. Flight tactics, piloting skills, aerodynamics had to be re-learned from scratch.” Part of the difference comes from the aircraft’s huge size and light weight. Solar Impulse shares this: “Here’s a fun fact for you to understand how special this aircraft is: the wingspan of Si2 is bigger than that of a Boeing 747, but the former’s weight is just slightly more than 1% of the latter (remember: the weight of a car)!” This jumbo-jet sized craft has all the performance of …
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