Soaring far above the Pacific Ocean, Solar Impulse 2 is on a high. Fuelled solely by the power of the sun – lithium batteries are used to store solar energy for use after dark – the aircraft is nearly halfway through its circumnavigation of the globe, a five-month endeavour that began last month and will see it touch down in Abu Dhabi in July. If successful, it will be the first solar-powered plane to complete the trip, a triumph for engineering and an inspiration for carbon neutral travel.
But the journey is a test of both man and machine. With room for only one person in the cockpit, the plane’s Swiss pilots, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, must alternate each leg of the mission, taking the helm for up to five days and nights each. It’s an intense experience. Borschberg reveals the key lies in mastering self-hypnosis, meditation and power naps. “We will sleep over the oceans only, for safety reasons, for the duration of 20 minutes maximum – and then we will get woken up,” he explained , detailing the series of alarms including a vibrating system within his sleeves.
With a wingspan greater than a Boeing 747 yet weighing about the same as a Land Rover, the plane will also test the pilots’ mettle at negotiating adverse weather. Yet for Piccard the pioneering spirit is in his blood. “My grandfather was the first man in the stratosphere, my father was the first man to touch the bottom of the Mariana trench, so I always had these role models showing how interesting life can be if you break out of your comfort zone,” he says.
