It's A Bird - It's A Plane - It Is Not The Man Of Steel !

I guess it actually is a plane, of sorts.  

NASA's Helios was a prototype high-altitude, long-duration unmanned solar-powered aerial vehicle. In 2001, Helios reached an altitude of 96,863 feet, breaking an official world record altitude for a non-rocket-powered aircraft. In 2003, Helios broke apart in flight during heavy turbulence.

I was lucky enough to be in the Phoenix area when the Solar Impulse landed.  Not lucky enough to be at the airport, but the news was all over it and I got to see great coverage via the television. (be sure to check out the video at the end of this post)

Solar Impulse, lit with more than a dozen solar-powered lights, touches down at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on May 3. It's the first aircraft to fly for 24 continuous hours only on sun power.

 Here's a bit on info on the Solar Impulse -

Solar-Powered Airplane Completes First Leg Of U.S. Flight

May 05, 2013 5:04 PM

The Solar Impulse, an airplane traveling across the United States using only solar power, is in Phoenix today, after reaching Arizona from California Saturday. It took the plane about 20 hours to travel from Mountain View, Calif., near San Francisco.

The aircraft is capable of flying at night as well as in daytime; the plane had about 75 percent of its battery power remaining when it landed in Arizona.

The Solar Impulse's "wingspan is longer than a 747 Boeing, but the entire plane weighs less than a car," as NPR's Steve Henn .

Comparisons such as that one may brought a moment of humor during Solar Impulse's trip, when the plane's pilot heard the pilot of another aircraft on his radio, asking an air traffic controller why the Impulse required a wide berth.

"Just think of a flying electric car," the controller replied.

 The first leg of the trip was piloted by Bertrand Piccard; his co-founder in the venture, André Borschberg, will also pilot the plane during its American trip.

The plane has completed a transcontinental flight before — flying from Switzerland to Morocco last year, as Eyder .

With a maximum altitude of nearly 28,000 feet and an average speed of about 40 miles per hour, the Solar Impulse will — in Dallas, Saint Louis, and Washington, D.C. — as it crosses the United States. It will then head to New York City.

Along the way, members of the public can visit the plane at airports. Its pilots and crew will also visit local groups to speak about solar-powered flight (details ).

Organizers say that after crossing the United States, their next goal is to fly the Solar Impulse around the world.  I'm not too proud to admit that I sometimes make opinions about a subject, when I am not totally informed or educated about it.  This holds true for this solar plane concept.

   
I looked at this plane, and tho I was totally amazed at it appearance, I had a big question.  "How practical will this plane ever be?" After all, what are you going to use it for?  A drone?  Maybe - but we have drone that are more efficient than this one is.   

So I checked around a bit and found this info that had me thinking that I should do my research on a subject before I form an opinion.   Check this out -

Environmental Benefits of Solar Aircraft

Many researchers say it's useful to park a solar aircraft in the sky. It can hover over a spot, carrying cameras or other sensors. In the stratosphere, it can sample gases near the ozone layer. It can also watch forest fires or track hurricanes on the ground.

For the military, solar airplanes can help with reconnaissance. Like spy planes, they fly high, which makes them stealthy. But while spy planes must fly over and return, solar airplanes are unblinking eyes. They can take uninterrupted photos or videos for years. "When an event happens, they can study everything that led up to it," says Del Frate. For law enforcement, they're good for border and port patrol.

It's true satellites can perform some of these tasks. But solar airplanes see more detail on the ground with less expensive cameras because they're closer to the action. They're also less expensive to build and launch. While satellites are hard to move once they're in orbit, solar airplanes are easily moved. It's also easier to bring solar planes down for maintenance.

Solar aircraft, being electric, emit no exhaust. Commercial airplanes do. In 1992, airplanes emitted 0.5 billion tons of CO₂, or 2 percent of human CO₂ emissions. Their exhaust contains many substances linked to health and environmental effects, although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates their levels, and health impacts near airports are being studied. Regardless, solar planes can't become clean passenger planes because they'll probably never have enough power to carry many passengers, says Del Frate.

Stratospheric jets, like the F-22A Raptor and U-2 spy planes, also emit exhaust. While they emit it into the stratosphere, where gases persist longer than in our troposphere below, their contribution to air pollution, ozone depletion and global warming hasn't been measured thoroughly. Solar airplanes that can accelerate and maneuver like these planes are many years off. So at this time, it's not practical to talk about solar planes being environmentally friendly alternatives to other planes. Still, they are clean vehicles for their current applications.

A surprising benefit of solar airplanes, says Del Frate, is that if solar panel manufacturers supplied a dozen solar planes a year with big, high-efficiency panels, the cost of high-efficiency panels for your home would go down.  

There you have it.  I won't be crossing my fingers to ever get a ride on solar plane but this info proves my original thoughts about the worth of a solar plane to be all wrong.

I can't wait to see where this goes in my life time.