Impulse 2, The First Solar Plane to Fly Around the World, Travels 43 KM Without Using a Drop of Fuel

Written by Valdemar Medeiros

Published on 20/09/2022 at 12:10

Updated on 20/09/2022 at 20:42

Ao aterrissar em Abu Dhabi, o Solar Impulse 2 percorreu mais de 40 mil Laurent Gillieron/EFE/VEJA

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The First Solar-Powered Airplane To Fly Around The World Can Reach Over 43 Thousand Km.

The Impulse 2, the first solar-powered airplane to fly around the world, has the wingspan of a Boeing 747, with 4 electric motors. The model, which uses solar energy as fuel, can travel 43 thousand kilometers without polluting the environment and just achieved a new record of 97% efficiency with its 4 propellers.

Solar Airplane Features Over 17 Thousand Photovoltaic Cells

YouTube video — *Solar Airplane Impulse – The Round The World Journey*

The Solar Impulse is a solar-powered airplane project proposed by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), located in Switzerland.

The school is spearheaded by Bertrand Piccard, who focuses on building airplanes capable of traveling around the world using solar energy without burning fuel. The solar airplane is the same size as the famous Boeing 747 but weighs only about 1.5 tons.

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Electric Motors of The Airplane That Does Not Use Fuel Lose Only 3% Of Energy

The solar-powered airplane can be considered a large mobile laboratory, featuring various high-level technologies that make it possible for the vehicle to generate large amounts of solar energy and store all this electricity, in addition to using it more efficiently.

With a high efficiency rate of 97% in its electric motors, the solar airplane has only 27% efficiency in its thermal motors, meaning that the airplane’s propellers that do not use fuel lose only 3% of their energy. In contrast, combustion-powered motors can lose up to 73% of energy.

Airbus Develops Solar-Powered Drone

According to data from August from the U.S. Army, a solar-powered drone crashed after flying for over two months. The vehicle, named Zephy-8, produced by the European group Airbus, encountered events that ended its journey over the Yuma desert in Arizona on August 18.

The site Simple Flying, responsible for tracking flights, stated that the equipment reached an altitude of between 45 thousand and 50 thousand feet and quickly began to descend.

The drone has a wingspan of over 25 meters and weighs over 75 kilograms. The solar-powered Zephy-8 more than doubled the records for unmanned flights.

Impulse 2, The First Solar Plane to Fly Around the World, Travels 43 KM Without Using a Drop of Fuel

The First Solar-Powered Airplane To Fly Around The World Can Reach Over 43 Thousand Km.

Solar Airplane Features Over 17 Thousand Photovoltaic Cells

Electric Motors of The Airplane That Does Not Use Fuel Lose Only 3% Of Energy

Airbus Develops Solar-Powered Drone

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Impulse 2, The First Solar Plane to Fly Around the World, Travels 43 KM Without Using a Drop of Fuel

The First Solar-Powered Airplane To Fly Around The World Can Reach Over 43 Thousand Km.

Solar Airplane Features Over 17 Thousand Photovoltaic Cells

Electric Motors of The Airplane That Does Not Use Fuel Lose Only 3% Of Energy

Airbus Develops Solar-Powered Drone

A giant printer called the “Ferrari” of concrete has landed in Latin America and can already build a 120-square-meter house in just 48 hours, making the traditional construction site look like something from the last century.

A British company has installed in the middle of the ocean the world’s first floating platform that generates electricity 24 hours a day from the temperature difference between the surface and the depths of the Atlantic, without relying on wind or sun.

Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has ceased to be a climatic phenomenon and has become a biological system that feeds on itself, with 8,000 kilometers in length, 37 million tons of algae, and scientists confirm that it is now permanent.

China is building an artificial island in the middle of the sea, covering 20 km², to construct the largest offshore airport in the world, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. This $4.3 billion project is anchored on more than 3,000 pillars embedded in the rock beneath the ocean and is scheduled to open in 2035.

A robot named Walter does the work of five bricklayers per hour and can save the construction industry, where the average age of professionals is 46 years and almost no one wants to learn the trade anymore, in the United Kingdom.

Engineers had to pour concrete mixed with tons of ice throughout entire nights in the Dubai desert to erect the Burj Khalifa; any carelessness could clog the pipes half a mile high.

The James Webb telescope spotted a planet 700 light-years from Earth with mornings full of sand clouds and nights with clear skies, the temperature difference between the two hemispheres reaches an impressive 170 degrees.

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After nearly three decades and more than 1 million cars produced, Toyota will close the historic Indaiatuba plant on June 30 and concentrate Corolla production in Sorocaba, as part of an R$ 11 billion plan that heavily invests in flex hybrids and even an unprecedented pickup.

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