Two years ago, Bayer MaterialScience became an official partner of Solar Impulse. Today, Friday 28 September the polymer company, a division of Bayer AG, signed on for an extended and stronger partnership agreement with Bertrand and André’s pioneering project. This commitment will result in a greater technical and financial investment in the development of highly specialized materials for the construction of HB-SIB and of the inclusion of the company’s logo on the body of HB-SIA.

To date, Bayer MaterialScience has contributed to the development of a number of Solar Impulse’s HB-SIA parts including high-performance polyurethane foams for the wing tips, motor gondolas and the cockpit, high-performance polycarbonate films used for the cockpit’s window and adhesive and coating materials used in the cabin and wings. 

A team of 30 professionals from various backgrounds are currently engaged by Bayer MaterialScience to work on the Solar Impulse technical project at the company’s Leverkusen office. But their technical developments are not restricted to the Solar Impulse project; on the contrary, many of their specialized materials are already being used by other industries. The automotive, construction and electronics sectors have integrated Bayer’s raw material in their products because of their energy efficiency, lightweight, thermal management, comfort, safety and attractive design.  

The Solar Impulse founders and pilots as well as the team welcome the extension and upgrade of this important partnership!

A new partnership was announced today in Zurich: Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has become Solar Impulse’s Official Insurance Provider defying the notion that insurance companies have an aversion for risks.

“When my grandfather completed the first flight into the stratosphere in 1931, nobody wanted to insure him,” said Bertrand, initiator and President of Solar Impulse, “today, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has proven its pioneering spirit by insuring a revolutionary experimental prototype.”

This partnership will give the coverage and financial backing necessary for pursuing the ambitious goal of completing the first purely solar-powered flight around the world while providing Solar Impulse with the insurance solutions needed to promote technological innovation and energy savings.

“This partnership is an excellent fit between two organizations who share a belief that innovation can flourish when knowledge and expertise is combined across industries” said Agostino Galvagni, CEO of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. “Swiss Re Corporate Solutions is showing that it has the expertise to match Solar Impulse’s needs on a project which will potentially revolutionise the way we power society.”

The convergence of risk-taker and risk-mitigater meets at the crossroads of commitment to sustainability and the drive to raise the benchmark of the impossible.

“This partnership with a specialist in risk mitigation like Swiss Re Corporate Solutions will strengthen the team to further improve the reliability and the safety of the flight around the world” concluded André, co-founder and CEO of Solar Impulse.

The Solar Impulse team is happy to welcome Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and is excited to join forces in our upcoming adventures!

Solar Impulse would like to extend its appreciation to Gonthier & Schneeberger SA who as, and who continues to remain the project's insurance brokers, for their efforts and valuable assistance in coordinating the partnership agreement with Swiss Re. 

As the second day of events in Madrid-Barajas airport took place, with visits organized by Solar Impulse’s partner Altran, I had the chance to have a detailed insight into the construction of the Stabilization Augmentation System (SAS).

SAS is a product that will allow the pilots, André and Bertrand, to improve their flight experience in preparation of the tour around the world. In fact, given the long legs each pilot will need to navigate (there will still be only one pilot at a time in the cockpit) the SAS will give them the possibility to attend to other flight duties and also get some rest.

Altran is the designer and developer of this system which is meant to be installed in HB-SIB. There is currently a team of engineers on this project here in Spain and they are planning to have the first prototype ready by October this year. After some testing, the final version of SAS will be ready in the course of 2013 to be incorporated in Solar Impulse’s second generation aircraft, HB-SIB.

The difference between SAS and the usual instruments used in commercial aviation is that, not only does it need to be exclusively calibrated for the specificities of the solar airplane, but it will also include an additional and innovative function, never before seen on the market, called the Monitoring Alerting Subsystem.

The SAS will include the following functions:

1. A Flight Control Computer (FCC or pilot assistant) designed to fine tune the very specific flight dynamics of HB-SIB.
2. The Monitoring and Alerting Subsystem (MAS) which will control the performance of the FCC and will alert the pilot if anything is out of range.
3. Actuators (servomotors controlling the displacement of the ailerons, i.e. the wing flaps).

The actuator and FCC are systems already integrated in commercial airliners but the MAS will be a newly developed subsystem meant to vibrate the pilot’s arm via an electrodes patch to alert the pilot and the Mission Control Center if anything is out of the norm during the flight. We could almost say that the SAS will act as a virtual co-pilot giving André and Bertrand some much appreciated rest especially during the long flights over the Oceans.

Today, Monday 9 July, Solar Impulse’s partners in Madrid had the opportunity to share their experiences with the project while further reinforcing their support. But what was especially interesting was hearing how this airplane, a symbol of scientific development, energy savings and clean technologies has also brought together partners, experts and researchers to work in the name of innovation.

Although the goal is to develop a solar airplane meant to fly around the world, the benefits of this project go well beyond acting as an ambassador of renewable energies and awareness-raiser for growing energy challenges worldwide. The partners present today have reaffirmed this by elaborating upon the many applications and products that have or could have potential usage in sectors outside of aviation.

For example, one of the first main partners of Solar Impulse, Solvay, has developed 11 products for the project and more than 6’000 pieces of the airplane, which are already being employed in other industries. For example, some of these new products can be used for improved insulation in public housing or more efficient batteries which could be integrated in electric cars.

Bayer, another one of Solar Impulse’s partners, talked about the special coating they’ve developed and used on HB-SIA. It gives the aircraft a metal-like appearance despite not being metal at all. It is an extremely light substance that is resistant to different weather conditions while also having mechanical properties.

Solar Impulse’s more recent partner, Schindler, transporting over one billion people in escalators and elevators around the globe, sees in Solar Impulse a project at the forefront of innovation, seeking to decrease dependency on fossil fuels and promoting the work of a wide of engineers from different sections collaborating together to find solutions. It has chosen to invest in the project as it is in line with its values and commitment to the development of clean technologies.

Altran, Solar Impulse’s oldest partner, has offered human resources to the project, engineers who have developed Platoo (Planning Tool), the simulation software designed to calculate flight profiles adapted the weather forecast, flight authorizations, battery autonomy, etc., and who are currently developing HB-SIB’s Stabilization Augmentation System (a hardware tool which helps maintain aircraft stability thus enabling the pilot to have some much needed rest during the flight).  

And finally Omega, better known for its watches but who has provided Solar Impulse with the very important landing system (designed to determine the flight path), the energy and weight efficient LED lights that illuminate the runway during landing, and the Omega Instrument that gives the pilot a mechanical and optical warning whenever the aircraft starts to bank above the authorized 5° angle.

These are just some of the innovative and avant-garde contributions of certain of Solar Impulse’s partners. But, just as Bertrand and André said during the Press Conference, it is a great example of how a project like this can bring more than just the world’s first solar airplane able to fly through the night: it also brings financing for scientific development and a drive to push the limits to find solutions.

I was told before I took off from Rabat that I should be prepared for what would be, tactically speaking, Solar impulse’s trickiest flight ever.

As things turned out, it was a pure pleasure-ride for me,  especially when I spent two hours flying backwards, because the headwind was stronger than my maximum speed. I could sit there admiring the sun setting in the west whilst actually travelling towards the east!

So who was it difficult for then? For the team that planned the mission. They had done an outstanding job finding a feasible flight trajectory, despite the very strong winds at altitude, by making the aircraft climb a long way to the north, so as then to allow it to drift backwards towards Madrid. When I talk about mission planning, it’s not just since the day before yesterday that they have been planning….  but for several years! Christophe Beeseau  and Stéphane Yong of the Altran company designed an IT tool, which they named Platoo (Planning Tool), and comprehensively tested it, to allow calculation of the best flight profiles for different combinations of wind, sunlight,  battery levels, relief, prohibited areas etc.

Now, if you just let them play around with their clever little gadget, add some input from the mission controllers, from our weather genius Luc Trullemans, and the magicians of air traffic control, Niklaus Gerber and Michel Masserey, and then mix in some voices in my headset belonging to people you are getting to know - thanks to Solar Impulse TV - such as Raymond Clerc, Christoph Schlettig, Michael Anger and Ralph Paul, what do you think emerges?  Maybe the most difficult flight in tactical terms ever attempted by the team, but for me anyway the most  fantastic flight in my whole career as a pilot !

Many thanks, my friends! You brought me back in one piece, but also smiling from ear to ear!