From Abu Dhabi to Nanjing – Solar Impulse’s journey so far through ABB’s camera lens

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2015-05-28

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While the Solar Impulse prepares for the 8,175-kilometer journey across the Pacific, we look back at the first six legs of its round-the-world adventure.

Since taking off from Abu Dhabi on March 9, Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) has flown more than 7,000 kilometers and clocked a total of just under 93 flying hours, with Bertrand Piccard spending most of the time in the one-seater cockpit (Piccard has a running total of 66 hours, Borschberg a running total of 26 hours).

Over the six completed legs, Si2 has crossed seven international air spaces and set a new world record, all without using single drop of fuel. The flight from Mandalay to Chongqing has been the longest of this journey to date, with a total flying time of 20 hours and 29 minutes.

Missed a leg of the of the round-the-world solar flight? Our videos below will bring you up to speed..

12 years of years of preparation and with the help of a dedicated team of ABB engineers, André Borschberg took off from Abu Dhabi and headed towards Muscat at the start of a pioneering round-the-world solar flight…

Thirteen hours and 441 kilometers later, the Si2 landed in Muscat where the plane underwent a bit of maintenance, while Bertrand Piccard prepared to fly the second leg to Ahmedabad in India…

In Ahmedabad, the first of two stops in India, thousands of local people turned out to catch a glimpse of the Solar Impulse plane and its crew. We took the opportunity to show how ABB solar technology is crucial to improving the lives of people across the country…

Day 10 and leg three of Solar Impulse’s innovative round-the-world flight using only solar power: The plane lands successfully in Varanasi, supported by a team including three embedded ABB engineers…

From Varanasi, Bertrand Piccard flew 1,398 kilometers to Mandalay, Myanmar. From NASA satellites in space, Myanmar appears as a dark area compared to the country’s more-illuminated neighbours owing to its lack of electric lighting. ABB will help change that, thanks to a solar-powered rural electrification project that will directly impact the lives of 3,000 people…

From Mandalay, Solar Impulse headed north for a two-stop tour of China, the first in Chongqing and then on to its current location Nanjing. The team has made it one-fifth of the way around the world, with Solar Impulse now about to take on its most-gruelling challenge yet: a non-stop 100-hour flight across the Pacific ocean to Hawaii…