Solar powered aircraft to land in Indian holy city on global flight
Xinhua, March 18, 2015 Adjust font size:
The world's only solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse-2 (Si2) will make a stopover in the Indian holy city Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh Wednesday after hovering over river Ganga, said organizers.
The purpose of the visit to Varanasi is to spread the message of cleanliness and clean energy, to support Indian government's " Clean Ganga" campaign to save the much polluted river.
The aircraft will land at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in the afternoon after having a two-hour flight from Ahmedabad, western India.
India is the second leg of its global flight.
After a delay of two hours from its scheduled time, the plane took off without any technical problem, after staying there for one week.
The Si2 is the brainchild of Bertrand Piccard, a psychiatrist who flew around the world in a hot-air balloon in 1999, and former Swiss fighter pilot Andre Borschberg.
The single-seater aircraft is made of carbon fiber, with the 72- meter wingspan, larger than a Boeing 747 but weighing 2,300 kg, or as much as a family car.
Its 17,248 solar cells and four lithium batteries weigh 633 kg and supply the electric motors with enough renewable energy for a week-long flight at an altitude of 8,500 meters. Endi