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SOLARPLANE
Swiss explorers
BertrandPiccard and
AndréBorschberg are
attempting thefirst
ever solar-powered
flight around the
world in the Solar
Impulse2. The
plane,mademostly
of carbonfibre,
weighs littlemore
than2,250kg, yet
has awingspanover
70m–wider than a
Boeing 747. So far,
they’vebroken seven
world records, flown
almost 18,000km and
have a total flight
timeof 254hours
and58minutes over
eight legs. Legone
of their epic journey
(
pictured
) saw the
duo takeoff from
AbuDhabi in theUAE
inMarch this year
and land inMuscat,
Oman, after 13hours
in the air. In July,
after an incredible
five-day flight from
Japan toHawaii, the
plane’s battery pack
was fried, putting the
missiononholduntil
April next year.
solarimpulse.com
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