Concept by SolarStratos
As the SolarImpulse team retires their successful earth-rounding solar-powered electric airplane, another team has stepped up to take the technology to the stratosphere, with a project to fly a solar-powered aircraft to 75,000 feet. The SolarStratos team, based in Switzerland, is led by Raphael Domjan, who in 2012 circumnavigated the Earth aboard PlanetSolar, a solar-powered boat. He said he intends to push SolarStratos “to its utter limits” in an effort to prove that renewable energy has “incredible capacities and will enable us to preserve our planet.” The group plans to build a two-seat solar airplane with a wingspan of 78 feet and weighing under 1,000 pounds.
Calin Gologan, of the German company PC-Aero, will design the airplane. The cockpit will not be pressurized, requiring Domjan, who plans to pilot the record-breaking flight, to wear a pressure suit, which also will be solar-powered. The record flight will take about five hours, the team says. The project already has raised $5 million and work is underway on the aircraft, according to Wired. The team hopes to fly before the end of 2018. Eventually, according to the project website, they hope to fly routine high-altitude solar flights to provide adventure tourism or a scientific platform.
