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Solar Powered Airplane

A Swiss team believes that they may be ready to fly a solar powered plane around the world by 2012:

Dr Piccard, who made history in 1999 by circling the globe non-stop in a balloon, says he wants to demonstrate the potential of renewable energies…

The flight would be a risky endeavour. Only now is solar and battery technology becoming mature enough to sustain flight through the night – and then only in unmanned planes.

Don’t expect him to make it in one hop, though – the plane will only make good 25 knots over the ground, meaning a circumnavigation could take as long as 25 days.

A cool idea, with very little in the way of practical application – at least for the now.

HBSIA

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