Solar Impulse, the Swiss bid to make the first solar-powered flight around the world, rolled out its prototype on Friday at an airbase near Zurich and powered up the engines.
All four sun-fueled electric motors were switched on for the first time under open skies after the completed high-tech plane was pushed out of the hangar.
“With its engines running at full power, it gave the impression of wanting to get off the ground straightaway ... but it won’t be long now before we release the brakes and let it roll its first few meters,” said Andre Borschberg, co-founder and chief executive of Solar Impulse.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The ultralight single seater with the wingspan of an Airbus A380 airliner is being prepared for a maiden flight over the coming weeks when weather conditions allow.
Solar Impulse staff said the slender craft, which only weighs as much as a medium-sized car (1,600kg), needs particularly clear conditions and less than a light breeze (three knots) for its first excursion in the air.
It is due to make a few airborne hops down the runway at the Dubendorf airbase before Dec. 20.
Borschberg said the aircraft was venturing into new flying territory.
“Compared to its weight and size, it is lighter than the best performing gliders,” Borschberg said.
The prototype, which is slightly smaller than the craft that is expected to fly around the world, was first unveiled while it was being built in its hangar in June.
It is primarily aimed at testing the cutting edge technology used to build and control the aircraft, and to fly through the night.
A first non-stop 36 hour flight through darkness is planned in Switzerland next spring, with the prospect of a five stage flight around the world in 2012.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS