The first solar-powered flight across the Atlantic
The competition heats up: Solar Impulse 2 has successfully completed the first solar-powered flight across the Atlantic in the 15th leg of its journey around the world.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The competition heats up: Solar Impulse 2 has successfully completed the first solar-powered flight across the Atlantic in the 15th leg of its journey around the world.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Never be commercially viable. Now a lighter-than-air craft, like maybe a Zeppelin, would travel faster AND have a useful payload capacity.
This may be more of a demonstration of current technology. This solar-powered aircraft stayed aloft over the course of 2-1/2 nights. It took off in the middle of the night, demonstrating that the power storage capacity was large yet lightweight.
Flying to 28,000 feet suggests that there was some weighty life support hardware on board. The pilot would need oxygen and something for warmth. The power gathering and efficiency of the solar cells demonstrates that a piloted, long-distance, solar powered aircraft is much more feasible than it was not so long ago.
The article, below, says: “It’s a demonstration that the tech is reliable.” But also listen to what the pilot says, in the 1-1/2-minute embedded video, about why they are doing this:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/24/travel/solar-impulse-2-plane-california/
The Spirit of St. Louis was a demonstration of what was possible. It was not a plane that could carry passengers, but it demonstrated that reliable long-distance flight had finally become possible with the technology available in 1927. These guys are doing something similar, demonstrating some possibilities of solar power, and possibly inspiring other uses, too.