Instead of just trying to slap solar panels to an existing plane, an airframe should ideally be designed from the ground up as a balancing act between a range of factors. These include weight ...

The goal for Climate Impulse is to take off unassisted, fly some 40,000 kilometers (about 25,000 miles) around Earth along the Equator at a gentle speed of about 200 kilometers per hour (125 mph), and ...

Although not the first to try and build a DIY solar-powered remote control airplane, [ProjectAir]’s recent attempt is the most significant one in recent memory. It follows [rctestflight]’s ...

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The airplane engine is powered by solar cells on the 20m-long wings and 9m body. “During the daytime, it flies utilizing a solar cell and battery power as a source of energy and, during the ...

The former fighter pilot is currently taking turns with Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard to circumnavigate the Earth in a plane that is powered only by the sun. Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) weighs as ...

If this past solar eclipse has taught us anything it's ... I reviewed the footage and I saw the plane going by,” Traverse City Central Student Elias Russell said. “I was able to take a ...

Some of the planets have slightly inclined orbits above or below the Solar plane, but they are all more or less at the same level, like the grooves on a disc, thanks to the way stars like our Sun ...

TWO Swiss pilots hope to become the first people to circumnavigate the globe in an aeroplane powered only by the sun. The experimental plane, named the Solar Impulse II, was presented in ...

All of our solar system’s planets are lining up to parade through the night sky at once. This extraordinary celestial event will see the sky scattered with seven visible planets in what is known ...

Once again, the Solar Orbiter has flown close to Venus. This time, however, the probe was deflected in such a way that it is now leaving the orbital plane. After a particularly close flyby of ...

The plane employs 17,248 solar cells to harness the sun's energy. As the sun sets, the plane switches over to the energy stored in its batteries. Solar Impulse can, in theory, perpetually stay ...