12 Facts About Solar Impulse

Solar Impulse is a Swiss long-range experimental solar-powered aircraft project, and the name of the project's two operational aircraft.

Second aircraft, completed in 2014 and named Solar Impulse 2, carries more solar cells and more powerful motors, among other improvements.

On 9 March 2015, Piccard and Borschberg began to circumnavigate the globe with Solar Impulse 2, departing from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

On 26 June 2009, Solar Impulse 1 was first presented to the public at the Dubendorf Air Base, Switzerland.

On 8 July 2010, Solar Impulse 1 achieved the world's first manned 26-hour solar-powered flight.

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On 5 June 2012, the Solar Impulse successfully completed its first intercontinental flight, a 19-hour trip from Madrid, Spain, to Rabat, Morocco.

On 6 July 2013, following a lengthy layover in Washington, Solar Impulse completed its cross-country journey, landing at New York City's JFK International Airport at 23:09 EDT.

Solar Impulse 1 was placed on public display at JFK after its landing.

For most of its time airborne, Solar Impulse 2 cruised at a ground speed of between 50 and 100 kilometres per hour, usually at the slower end of that range at night to save power.

Additional legs of the flight were added in the US as Solar Impulse 2 flew to Phoenix, Arizona, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dayton, Ohio, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania and New York City, arriving there on 11 June 2016.

Piccard said that he and his organization, Solar Impulse Foundation, formed the World Alliance to help draw investors' and businesses' attention to new cleantech startups.

Solar Impulse noted in a 2018 Smithsonian article that technologies developed for the solar-powered flight were already being repurposed in new ways, including new ceiling fans based on the solar airplane engines and refrigerators using the cockpit insulation.