Thread: Solar Powered Plane

BBC News - Solar Impulse plane starts bid to cross US

Plane weighs similar to an average car, while possessing the wingspan of an A340. The makers plan to circumnavigate the globe sometime in 2015. While not incredibly practical, further technological advances could enable similar planes to achieve greater efficiency, eliminating the need for jet fuel, saving the environment as well as money.

good idea

Perhaps as a research vehicle. As a passenger vehicle it would be terrible. Quite slow and prone to wind share--perhaps only as a niche vehicle--tours of the Grand Canyon, Iceland and similar flights.

Currently going short flight range by each flight.

Pointless. Rich kids and their toys.

As better photovoltaics are designed and better batteries are developed I'd think that small , lightweight aircraft could be used by individuals who, like today, want an aircraft to just enjoy on the weekends. Small, easy maintained and cheaper solar powered aircraft are something that could be very useful instead of gas powered aircraft that we use today. They would be quieter, cheaper and much more economical for the average citizen to use if they so wanted. But as has been stated here already the weather will play a significant part of flying this type of aircraft due to its lightness.

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

Perhaps as a research vehicle. As a passenger vehicle it would be terrible. Quite slow and prone to wind share--perhaps only as a niche vehicle--tours of the Grand Canyon, Iceland and similar flights.

Originally Posted by pyoko

Pointless. Rich kids and their toys.

I don't know. What seems impractical now could become something greater as technology improves. Lighter materials and batteries, more efficient cells, improved construction techniques, etc could all lead to something more meaningful.

Originally Posted by Flick Montana

I don't know. What seems impractical now could become something greater as technology improves. Lighter materials and batteries, more efficient cells, improved construction techniques, etc could all lead to something more meaningful.

Planes of the future won't be able to break the rules of physics. The limitation is amount of solar energy available. Even is the entire top a plane were covered in weightless nearly 100% efficient solar panels the amount of energy would still be far short of powering anything other than a really slow or low capacity aircraft. Just for kicks look at a typical sports-light aircraft, such as the Denny Kitfox, it has a wing area of 12 square meters. That would give about 10KW even with those super panels (that are at least 5 times better than anything used today), but needs a 60KW engine to fly one person a 190 km/h. Best it could do is about an hour or two of slow flight per day even in the sunniest local. Or just for fun consider a commercial jet that needs the equivalent of about 50,000 KW engines--something that would take over 10 days for it's 500 square meter surface to provide enough solar energy for an hour's flight. Sun light simply isn't dense enough energy source to do anything like the OP suggest.

I wasn't suggesting that it had to be a standard plane equipped to carry passengers or cargo. Who knows what might come from it?

Even if this plane has no commercial applications, it was invested in as a project because it demonstrates, while getting public attention, the potential of non-fossil fueled energy.
Yes, it's a publicity stunt. A stunt is not always a bad thing.
If they can fly a plane on solar energy, what else can they do? The point is not to replace commercial jetliners. It's to captivate a majority audience and scrounge up support for a cause.

I heard they were on their way (or projecting) to make a 24h/24h plane that would use the batteries at night and both stay up and recharge during the day. Could be interesting to have instruments that are cheaper than a satellite, to monitor traffic, forest fires, etc, (as long as they dont use this to have 24/24 advertising banners flying in circles over head)