Swiss solar-powered plane Solar Impulse prepares to begin flight across US May 1. Seen above over Sahara last year on record-breaking intercontinental flight to desert city of Ouarzazate, Morocco.
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** “Solar Impulse has already flown over the Alps in Switzerland where it was built. It has even flown over Morocco at night on batteries recharged by the sun.” **
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, by John Blackstone, MATIC (Mountain View, Calif., April 24, 2013) — The unusual aircraft called Solar Impulse sat on a California runway as its energy source rose in the east.
The plane has already flown over the Alps in Switzerland where it was built. It has even flown over Morocco at night on batteries recharged by the sun.
Solar Impulse flies over Moroccan capital, Rabat, on 1st stop last year in N. African nation.
We took a close look with Sully Sullenberger, the retired pilot who safely landed a US Airways jet in the Hudson River.
“It’s exciting to be so close to this fabulous machine,” he tells Andre Borschberg, who designed and built Solar Impulse with fellow pilot Bertrand Piccard.
“It’s exciting to meet you,” Borschberg says.
“When we meet you before a flight, maybe we need the life jackets,” Piccard jokes.
The aircraft has the same wingspan as a 747 but a cockpit barely big enough for one person.
It weighs only as much as a midsize car.
“We are sensitive to turbulence,” Piccard says.
“We have to fly in good weather. So, of course, it’s not yet the possibility of carrying 200 passengers at the speed of sound, but you never know. It can come.”
Its wings are covered with 12,000 solar cells. It cruises at only 30 miles an hour, though in a strong wind, it may stand still — even fly backward.
Solar Impulse HB-SIA, solar-powered airplane that can fly at night, being prepped to fly across US in 5 legs beginning May 1. Seen here in hangar, Mountain View, Calif. CBS News, Photo: J. Martin/CNET
18 Photos - Solar Impulse set to soar on U.S. tour
“In the 20th century, the goal was to conquer the world — conquer the planet, even go to the moon,” Piccard says.
“Go faster, higher, farther,” Sullenberger adds.
Watch: Solar-powered plane aims to fly around the world.
CBS 60 Minutes
“Exactly,” says Piccard. “Now we’ve seen that we can conquer everything, but I think we should now conquer the quality of life. And we have to do it in a clean way.”
The test flight over San Francisco Bay lasted 16 hours — long after the sun had set.
Asked why aviation has the power to inspire, Sullenberger says, “There’s something special about being able to leave the earth and not being bound by it.”
The Solar Impulse pilots, like Sully Sullenberger, have accomplished things in flight that seem impossible. Their hopes, like their aircraft, are not bound by the earth.
In Ouarzazate, Morocco, Solar Impulse pilot reviews advances in renewable energy to cross Sahara
MATIC: Last year soared over Moroccan Sahara on record-breaking intercontinental flight
In June 2012, the Solar Impulse made its historic 2,500-kilometer (1,550-mile) journey from Switzerland to Madrid, then Rabat and Ouarzazate, Morocco, site of a World Bank-financed solar energy project where Morocco is building the world’s largest solar-thermal plant to harness the power of the Sahara sun for North Africa and potentially Europe.
In November 2012, Morocco secured additional European financing that now totals more than $400 million, and signed a $1 billion deal with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power International to supply Morocco with electricity from the 160-megawatt plant for 25 years. It is the first of five sites that will ultimately produce up to 2,000 megawatts of renewable, clean energy and create many jobs in the area.
“I hope that Europe will learn from Morocco’s example,” said Pilot Bertrand Piccard after landing on the return trip to Madrid last summer. “It’s precisely during times of global crisis that there needs to be an investment in renewable energies and energy savings, providing us with what’s necessary to sustain employment, purchasing power and a positive trade balance. Thank you Morocco.”
Mustapha Bakkoury, President of the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) said the solar plane is playing an important role in raising awareness about solar energy’s potential to reduce global dependence on oil. “We share a common message with Solar Impulse.” He said Morocco plans to be producing solar energy when Solar Impulse makes its round-the-world tour.
Photo: Solar Impulse flight to Rabat and Ouarzazate, Morocco last year coincided with launch of World Bank-financed solar project in Morocco to connect continents with power from Sahara sun
For more information on Solar Impulse & Morocco’s solar energy plans:
- Solar Impulse team: http://live.solarimpulse.com/
- Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN): http://www.masen.org.ma/index.php?Id=undefined&lang=en (English language available)
- Morocco’s Agence Nationale pour le Développement des Energies Renouvelables et de l’Efficacité Energétique (ADEREE): http://www.aderee.ma/ (English language available).
