http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/ Engadget Comments for Captain Piccard's Solar Impulse starts runway testing http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 6:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 6:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 6:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 10:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 7:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/]]>Nov 24th 2009 7:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/What are the four fans on the front for then, to cool passing birds?
Anyway, an Electric Jet? what would it use as reaction mass?]]>Nov 24th 2009 7:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 8:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 9:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/"Can I have a coke?"
"Sure, what would you like?"
"Root beer please."
"Coming right up."
"Nice jet, what's the propulsion system?"
"Electric motors."
"Nice. You'll save a ton of money on jet fuel."]]>Nov 24th 2009 9:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
That's the first thing I thought as soon as I read this. Kudos.]]>Nov 24th 2009 1:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 7:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
"How long?"

"20 minutes, Sir"

"20 minutes?"


]]>Nov 24th 2009 9:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 8:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 10:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 9:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 9:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Can that thing really move that fast though? If you start at a point, you would have to circumnavigate the Earth in 24 hours to be able to continuously see daylight. Worst case scenario is you start at a point 7am at sunrise, make the trip in 36hours (24+12 hours) and land at 7pm the next day, just as the sun is setting. That still requires you to go 691mph. That thing must have some battery back up to allow it to fly overnight.]]>Nov 24th 2009 9:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 10:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/that would mean going 40,075.02 km in about 36 hours (start in the morning and end in the evening) or 1113 kmph. Not happening with that little thing!]]>Nov 24th 2009 10:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
So this thing is twice as fast as a commercial airliner? Wow those four 10 hp "fan-cooled" electric "jet" engines must be something.

To keep up with the sun you have to fly about 900 mph. Not going to happen in a propeller-driven plane (all sorts of crazy things happen when you try to go faster then the speed of sound on a propeller driven aircraft).

It has a 400kg lithium-polymer battery pack to provide power at night.]]>Nov 24th 2009 10:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 12:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 9:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 9:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
dig, dig...right, here's the Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Impulse_Project

Top speed is 70 kph (!); they've got LiIon batteries in the wings. The plan is to make five legs of 3-4 days each, switching pilots for each leg.]]>Nov 24th 2009 10:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/I figured you were being facetious. I just remember a reddit thread where someone was hypothetically asking how fast to continuously travel in daylight. That's actually impressively fast, since it only weighs the size of a car.
And why the heck aren't my own comments showing up to me...]]>Nov 24th 2009 10:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 10:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/awwww that was meant for the "sun not going down" comment]]>Nov 24th 2009 10:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 10:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
Guess this bug hasn't been fixed with the "new improved" engdaget.

I used Firefox for my post, what about the rest of you?]]>Nov 24th 2009 11:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
Stop making your website pretty, and FIX the broken comment system already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a simple two step plan for you.
Step 1: FIX
Step 2: IT

Got it?]]>Nov 24th 2009 11:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
I'm guessing they only take off on sunny days, and once you break thru the clouds, stay with the sun and fly as long as you want. As for descent, just glide on down...]]>Nov 24th 2009 11:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
The $20-$40 per hour in fuel would add up after a while.]]>Nov 24th 2009 11:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
you actually believe solar panels are able to substitute $20-40 in fuel every hour?]]>Nov 24th 2009 12:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
And, just as solar panels aren't 100% efficient, neither is the burning of fuel.]]>Nov 24th 2009 10:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/

i did some calculations, if you put a lot of solar panels on a plane you would have 10m^2 of them and if we assume that in 10 years we will have solar panels with 100% efficiency (but we won't), they could produce 12 kW of power.

gasoline contains 8.89 kWh/liter of energy so ]]>Nov 24th 2009 1:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/you seem to own the other Unverified. well done]]>Nov 24th 2009 3:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 3:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/Nov 24th 2009 3:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/ When sun goes down..the plane goes down as well! :)

Yes, but slowly. With that much wing area, even weighing as much as a medium-sized car, it should have a pretty good glide ratio.]]>Nov 24th 2009 8:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/
Solar panels have increased in efficiency, newer materials have become lighter and stronger, and motors have become faster and more efficient.]]>Nov 25th 2009 12:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/captain-piccards-solar-impulse-starts-runway-testing/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Pathfinder#Crash]]>Nov 25th 2009 6:01AM