In come Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg and the place erupts with cheering as the creators of Solar Impulse are greeted like rock stars!

At the start of this session, Benoît Cerexhe, the Brussels minister for scientific research had told me that the percentage of science students had dropped by 8%. "The trouble is we need them," he explained. "And having Solar Impulse here in Brussels gives us a chance to give them a glimpse of science in a much more exciting way than a maths or physics lesson ever will." The students got the message loud and clear and were fascinated by André and Bertrand's presentation. One of them, Dugagjin, told me that this experience was a dream come true. He had been following the Solar Impulse project for four years and personally convinced his teacher to bring the whole class to see it. "I can hardly believe that it's true and that I am actually here," he said.

Michael, a student of electronics, was enthralled by the technical aspects of the aircraft. He looked at it from every angle, marvelled at the aerodynamics, the propellors and how light the materials were, but didn't once mention the clean energy source. I asked him why and he looked at me with shock. "Oh! Really? It flies without fuel? That's fantastic!"

The chain of events that resulted in these students being in the Solar Impulse hangar is a long one. It began with Minister Cerexhe and was continued by Ariane Vandenbosch who is in charge of promoting scientific studies in Brussels. She told me that she invited all the schools in the region, both general and technical, on a first come first served basis. The response was very enthusiastic and the attendance slots were filled within a matter of days. Further along the chain of events, a local organisation called 'le petit débrouillard' was charged with welcoming the students and organising themed workshops. Antonio Nunez, who managed this part of the project, explained that he had six weeks to pull everything together and that he downloaded the curriculum from the Solar Impulse website. Unable to resist, he showed me the workshops and I was immediately captivated along with the 600 school children from Brussels!