A solar plane flies, even at night

The Solar Impulse airplane, piloted by the project co-founder, André Borschberg, landed at 9 am local time at the military base of Payerne, after a flight without a hitch which will ultimately lasted a little over 26 hours.

In Switzerland, the team of explorers who wanted to demonstrate that an aircraft powered by solar energy could accumulate enough energy to fly at night won the bet handily.

Greeted by the applause of hundreds of spectators, under an azure sky, Solar Impulse is stopped after a hundred meters away.
Idéateur according to the project, Bertrand Piccard, the device could continue the flight. "It picks up enough energy to go up in altitude and spend another night" he was glad.
Mr. Borschberg, who used techniques of yoga and breathing to stay awake, told the press he felt "very confident".
"It was very, very careful to handle the energy savings. We had a lot more [electricity] we did not want to have, "he said.
Thanks to a very precise steering, says Borschberg, the plane "has generated more energy during the day and consumed less at night."
A few hours after takeoff Wednesday morning, Mr. Piccard had indicated that the sun's intensity was such that the pilot decided to turn off the part of the device that recharges the lithium polymer batteries from 400 pounds.