Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Solar Energy News .




SOLAR DAILY
Solar Impulse departs Myanmar for China
by Staff Writers
Mandalay, Myanmar (AFP) March 29, 2015


Solar Impulse 2 took off from Myanmar's second biggest city of Mandalay early Monday and headed for China's Chongqing, the fifth flight of a landmark journey to circumnavigate the globe powered solely by the sun.

The single-seater aircraft's team spent more than a week waiting in Mandalay for weather conditions to improve in southwestern China for what will be one of the most challenging legs of the round the world attempt so far.

Speaking on a live feed from mission control in Monaco, Prince Albert gave pilot Bertrand Piccard clearance for takeoff.

"Bertrand, from Albert, you are clear to proceed. Have a nice flight," Prince Albert said.

"Thank you very much my friend," Piccard replied before taking off at around 3:35 am local time (2105 GMT Sunday) into the dark pre-dawn skies.

Piccard, one of the two Swiss pilots of the solar-powered plane, will have to battle extreme cold of down to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) in the cockpit and the general unpredictabilities of flying above the mountainous Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan.

Flying at high altitude for most of the journey, Piccard will also need to use additional oxygen.

The 1,375-kilometre (854-mile) route is expected to take around 18 hours.

If the plane flies direct it will cross over a remote region of Myanmar's border with China where intense fighting has broken out between predominantly ethnic Chinese Kokang rebels and Myanmar's military.

The fighting has forced tens of thousands of refugees to flood into neighbouring Yunnan province.

Earlier this month Beijing mobilised fighter jets to patrol its side of the border after a bomb, apparently from a Myanmar warplane, landed in a sugar plantation in Chinese territory killing five.

The team behind Solar Impulse 2, which has more than 17,000 solar cells built into its wings, hopes to promote green energy with its circumnavigation attempt.

Ridiculed by the aviation industry when it was first unveiled, the venture has since been hailed around the world, including by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

Muscat was the first of the 12 planned stops on the plane's maiden journey around the world from Abu Dhabi, with a total flight time of around 25 days spread over five months.

From Oman the plane flew to the Indian city of Ahmedabad before heading to Varanasi and then Mandalay.

From Chongqing it will depart for the eastern coastal city of Nanjing before embarking on the most arduous leg of its journey, an 8,172-kilometre, 120-hour odyssey across the Pacific to Hawaii.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
All About Solar Energy at SolarDaily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





SOLAR DAILY
Discovery could yield more efficient portable electronics, solar cells
Madison WI (SPX) Mar 25, 2015
By figuring out how to precisely order the molecules that make up what scientists call organic glass - the materials at the heart of some electronic displays, light-emitting diodes and solar cells - a team of chemists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has set the stage for more efficient and sturdier portable electronic devices and possibly a new generation of solar cells based on organic ... read more


SOLAR DAILY
Weltec Biopower Builds 500-kW Biogas Plant for Vegetable Producer

Chinese airline completes cooking oil fuel flight

Supercomputers help solve puzzle-like bond for biofuels

Scientists engineer faster-growing trees ideal for biofuel

SOLAR DAILY
Snake robots learn to turn by following the lead of real sidewinders

Robot finds bodily posture may affect memory and learning

USAF funds sense-and-avoid technology development

Robotic materials: Changing with the world around them

SOLAR DAILY
U.S. to fund bigger wind turbine blades

Gamesa and AREVA create the joint-venture Adwen

Time ripe for Atlantic wind, advocates say

Wind energy: TUV Rheinland supervises Senvion sale

SOLAR DAILY
Uber ramps up safety efforts after criticism

Pirelli future, and calanders, safe in Chinese hands

Pirelli boss attacks 'nationalist' China deal critics

Chinese takeover of Pirelli met with resignation in Italy

SOLAR DAILY
New technology converts packing peanuts to battery components

Superconductivity breakthroughs

You can't play checkers with charge ordering

Researchers increase energy density of lithium storage materials

SOLAR DAILY
Japan's NRA confirms fault line under nuclear reactor on west coast active

Jordan, Russia ink deal on nuclear reactor plant

N. Korea denies hacking nuclear plants in South

NE China nuclear plant generator operational

SOLAR DAILY
New Zealand breaks renewable energy record

Energy company Eneco is heating homes with computer servers

Polish Power Exchange hosts 18th AFM Annual Conference

Reducing emissions with a more effective carbon capture method

SOLAR DAILY
Amazon's carbon uptake declines as trees die faster

Conifers' helicoptering seeds are result of long evolutionary experiment

Protected areas in Indonesia ineffective in preventing deforestation

Isolated tribe ventures out of threatened Peru forests




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.