Testing the Solar Plane

Something people close to me know about me is that I am terrified of flying. Not so terrified that I won't go on planes at all, but I will sit there nervously clutching the seat for every bump of a flight. I will do this in a hilarious fashion from all of takeoff to touchdown. Yes, I understand that it is slightly irrational, but I can never seem to shake the nerves. Complicate that with the fact of my height, and it makes plane rides unpleasant at best, "somebody save me" at the worst.

I'm nervous enough about regular engines, so the idea of a solar-powered plane taking flight would probably make me run away in terror. However, it seems that a recent test in Switzerland has gone over extremely well, with a small and lightweight solar plane flying at over 1200 meters in altitude for almost 90 minutes. The plane was first tested several months back at only a few feet off the ground, so taking it this high was most certainly an astounding accomplishment.

The plane itself is adorned with 12,000 solar panels that collect energy to charge batteries that power the plane's motors. These batteries can hold charges for up to 36 hours at a time. While the plane worked well in the day, there is still a day/night test that is going to be conducted later this year, to fly the plane completely on battery power.

While the thought of riding in one of these is definitely nerve-wracking, I appreciate that there are people out there always coming up with alternative energy sources for things like this. I'll be curious to see where this technology goes. Really, the thing I'm actually waiting for is teleportation, though I won't hold my breath for very long on that one.

Source- CNET