Aviation Innovators Attempt First Round-the-World Solar Flight

Last Updated Feb 9, 2016 by Jon Busch

MIT Sloan alumnus André Borschberg and balloonist Bertrand Piccard are currently attempting the first round-the-world flight using only the power of the sun. Both men co-founded the solar flight project, named Solar Impulse, which is based in Switzerland.

The aim of the voyage is to travel around the globe at high altitude using no fuel and releasing zero pollutants. The airplane, Solar Impulse 2, is constructed from carbon fiber and weighs no more than an average car, with the wingspan of a jumbo jet and the engine power of a small motorcycle.

The pair completed the first of part of their journey in July of 2015—traversing the Pacific from Japan to Hawaii, traveling 4,400 miles over 117 hours before experiencing battery malfunction and landing in Hawaii. They plan to resume flight in April 2016.

Borschberg (left) and Piccard (right)

While the first flight around the world without the use of fuel is an incredible feat in itself, Borschberg and Piccard have greater ambitions outside the act itself. They hope to demonstrate the power of solar energy and inspire others to make use of renewable energy. The poetic ambitions of flying for change are fitting for the two men, who have chosen to pursue innovation beyond the domains of aviation and engineering alone (as if that weren’t enough), seeking further to change the world at large.

Their website reads:

“Solar Impulse wants to demonstrate that clean technologies can achieve impossible goals. If an airplane can fly day and night without fuel, everybody could use these same technologies on the ground to save natural resources and improve quality of life.”

The environmentally conscious and adventuresome spirit that imbues the men’s mission is one of family tradition for Bertrand Piccard, whose father and grandfather are both famous explorers. Bertrand’s father, Jacques Piccard—oceanographer and engineer—took part in the first exploration of the Mariana Trench, whereas August Piccard, Bertand’s grandfather, twice claimed the record for highest altitude reached in an air balloon. Bertand himself also earned fame for being the first person to fly around the world in a continuous air balloon flight.

Given Piccard’s prior accomplishments and Borschberg’s 20-plus years of pilot and aircraft construction experience, one is hard up to imagine a duo more capable of shaping the future.