Bertrand Piccard became famous a few years ago for flying around the world in a hot air balloon without landing. And this year he wants to repeat his achievement, only this time on a solar-powered airplane.
The Pikar family was lucky for travelers and discoverers. So Auguste Piccard was one of the first explorers of airspace and underwater depths. His son Jacques Piccard was the first person to sink in a bathyscaphe to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (the deepest place on Earth). And already his son (hence, the grandson of Auguste) became a world famous aeronaut who flew around the world in a balloon without transfers.
But Bertrand is not going to stop there. In late 2009, he plans to fly around the world in a solar-powered airplane. The device has already passed the first flight tests and is ready for the main flight.
The wingspan of this airplane is about sixty one meters. They contain more than twelve thousand solar panels. They allow four motors of ten horsepower each to run.
The airplane can reach an altitude of eight and a half thousand meters and can withstand temperatures up to minus forty degrees Celsius.
The design and construction of this airplane cost about one hundred million dollars. More than a hundred specialists from all over the world were involved in the project. Moreover, this product will not be a piece. Of course, it was not created for a single flight by Bertrand Picard, but for commercial exploitation. As planned, he will enter it in 2011 and will be involved mainly in the tourism business.
In the meantime, Picard is preparing for his historic non-landing flight around the world, which should take about two and a half days. Moreover, if during a balloon flight Bertrand worked with a partner, then he is now going to go on a trip around the world alone. Directly Fedor Konyukhov airspace.
