PHOTO: Solar Impulse, the first aircraft able to fly day and night without a drop of fuel – propelled solely by the sun’s energy
COVESTRO, a leading supplier of innovative high-tech polymer materials, will extend its sponsorship with Solar Impulse, as it prepares to complete its journey round the world in 2016.
Covestro, formerly Bayer MaterialScience, has been a Solar Impulse project partner since 2010 and also its official technical partner. It was responsible for the design and construction of the Si2 cockpit which uses the most advanced polyurethane and polycarbonate systems, significantly reducing the weight of the plane while ensuring ultimate protection for the pilot.
Covestro is also supporting Solar Impulse’s ‘Future is Clean’ initiative, which is gathering global support for the use of clean energy, following the ratification of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and ahead of the Conference on Climate Change of the United Nations (COP21) this December.
The clean tech revolution: The zero-fuel airplane
Swiss pioneers Bertrand Piccard (chairman) and André Borschberg (CEO) are the founders, pilots and driving force behind Solar Impulse, the first aircraft able to fly day and night without a drop of fuel – propelled solely by the sun’s energy. With the Si2 aircraft, they are attempting the first Round-The-World Solar Flight. This historic first aims at demonstrating that clean technologies can achieve the impossible.
After the original Solar Impulse Si1 prototype which holds eight world records, Si2 engineers have designed and constructed a new single-seater aircraft made of carbon fibre. It has a 72m wingspan (larger than that of the Boeing 747) for a weight of just 2,300kg, equivalent to that of a car. The 17,248 solar cells built into the wing supply electric motors (17.5 CV each) with renewable energy. The solar cells recharge four lithium polymer batteries totalling 633kg each, which allow the aircraft to fly at night and therefore have virtually unlimited autonomy.
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