This is a unique opportunity for anybody in the Bay Area interested in technological innovation and renewable energies to participate in a panel a discussion with André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, Co-founders and pilots of the Solar Impulse project.  

Besides the pilots, a number of the project’s partners will be part of the panel to present challenges they’ve faced and the innovations they’ve achieved when conceiving and constructing the world’s first solar-powered airplane able to fly day and night.

The panel will take place at Moffett Airfield at NASA’s Ames Research Center, a historical setting at the heart of the Silicon Valley. The panel will start at 9am and end at 11am, but because of the strict security requirements to enter site, shuttles will be organized starting at 8:30 am. There will be a Q&A 10-10:30 and a chance to meet the team and enjoy the plane before the shuttles start bringing people back to the Parking at Ellis Gate starting at 11am.

Watch the replay here. 

The days of more powerful electric cars and fully electric airplanes might not be as far as we might think. A young man, inspired by the Solar Impulse project, has filed a patent for an electric turbojet concept. Determined to find a way to power a jet without fossil fuels, Xavier Morin found the answer in space.

The idea is to convert electrical energy into heat in the combustion chamber. But since a metal resistor is not fit for this use, Xavier found a solution simply using electrical arcs. This technology, called arcjet, is already exploited on satellites but had to be significantly modified for atmospherical use.

In parallel, funding and research for the key variable in Xavier’s electric turbojet, the batteries, has been allocated and is taking place. The United States Government, via the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), has awarded $5 million and $1 million respectively to two companies working on a lithium-air battery, for the former, and an all-electron battery, for the latter. IBM has also launched itself in the search for a better, lighter and more efficient battery, but has decided to go ahead with its own funds.

If these scientists and researchers succeed in their quest, future batteries could have electric cars running for 500 miles (~805 kilometers) with only one charge: a result exceeding today’s gasoline engines. That would also mean that Xavier’s electric turbojet would have a guaranteed lightweight energy source and that Solar Impulse’s pilots, thanks to the trivial weight of the new batteries,   wouldn’t need to watch their waistlines anymore!

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for this technological evolution!

Image above: Turbo Arcjet

A thrilling year for Solar Impulse starting with a simulation of a 72-hour flight and culminating in the decoration of André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard by King Mohammed VI after completing world’s first fully solar-powered intercontinental flight. While HB-SIA, piloted alternately by André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, made its way this summer from Payerne (Switzerland) to Ouarzazate (Morocco) with intermediate stops in Madrid (Spain) and Rabat (Morocco), Solar Impulse’s team of engineers continued the construction of HB-SIB, Solar Impulse’s second generation aircraft.

February

• February 24: Successful simulation of a 72-hour flight (3 days and 3 nights).

May

• May 7: Bertrand Piccard’s last test flight before the 2012 Crossing Frontiers Mission flights.
• May 11: Launching of Solar Impulse’s new website.
• May 21: Structural testing of HB-SIB’s gondola in Dübendorf.
• May 25: First leg of Solar Impulse’s first intercontinental flight begins. HB-SIA lands successfully in Madrid.

June

• June 6: Solar Impulse completes its first intercontinental flight and lands in Rabat, on Moroccan soil.
• June 13: HB-SIA takes off for first attempt to reach Ouarzazate, the doorstep to the Moroccan desert.
• June 22: Solar Impulse triumphantly lands in Ouarzazate to the beat of traditional Berber music happily concluding its 2^nd attempt to reach its destination in Southern Morocco.
• June 28: HB-SIA returns to Rabat after a week of events in Ouarzazate, and begins its return home.

July

• July 5: Wing spar of HB-SIB cracks and the final structural test fails.
• July 7: Solar Impulse lands in Madrid.
• July 17: HB-SIA lands in Toulouse-Francazal airport.
• July 24: The Solar Impulse team concludes the world’s first roundtrip, fully solar-powered intercontinental flight by landing safely at its home base in Payerne, Switzerland. The 2012 Crossing Frontiers mission flights conclude to the sounds of Switzerland’s traditional Alphorn music.

August

• August 30: André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard receive a decoration by King Mohammed VI for their courage and efforts to promote the Moroccan solar program with their flight to Rabat and Ouarzazate.