Instead of just trying to slap solar panels to an existing plane, an airframe should ideally be designed from the ground up as a balancing act between a range of factors. These include weight ...

The former fighter pilot is currently taking turns with Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard to circumnavigate the Earth in a plane that is powered only by the sun. Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) weighs as ...

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Although not the first to try and build a DIY solar-powered remote control airplane, [ProjectAir]’s recent attempt is the most significant one in recent memory. It follows [rctestflight]’s ...

The airplane engine is powered by solar cells on the 20m-long wings and 9m body. “During the daytime, it flies utilizing a solar cell and battery power as a source of energy and, during the ...

The goal for Climate Impulse is to take off unassisted, fly some 40,000 kilometers (about 25,000 miles) around Earth along the Equator at a gentle speed of about 200 kilometers per hour (125 mph), and ...

TWO Swiss pilots hope to become the first people to circumnavigate the globe in an aeroplane powered only by the sun. The experimental plane, named the Solar Impulse II, was presented in ...

With a wingspan longer than Boeing's 747 jumbo jet, the Solar Impulse 2 took off from its home base in Switzerland on its maiden flight this week. First unveiled to the public in April ...

The plane employs 17,248 solar cells to harness the sun's energy. As the sun sets, the plane switches over to the energy stored in its batteries. Solar Impulse can, in theory, perpetually stay ...

If this past solar eclipse has taught us anything it's ... I reviewed the footage and I saw the plane going by,” Traverse City Central Student Elias Russell said. “I was able to take a ...

Once again, the Solar Orbiter has flown close to Venus. This time, however, the probe was deflected in such a way that it is now leaving the orbital plane. After a particularly close flyby of ...

Trending News: Recently, many people in the United States, Canada, and Mexico witnessed an incredible event: a total solar eclipse ... from inside a plane flying at 35,000 feet.