Flying with sun power

André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard wanted to show that people can travel using only environmentally-friendly energy. They decided to build an airplane called Solar Impulse. This airplane flies using only the power of the sun. Instead of fuel, it uses solar energy saved in its batteries.

In 2015, Borschberg took off from Japan in Solar Impulse. He flew 35,000 km without fuel and arrived in Hawaii five days later. Solar Impulse became the first plane to fly day and night without landing. It was also the first solar plane to cross the ocean.

Borschberg showed the world that we can accomplish a lot using just solar power. He calls his airplane a flying laboratory, because it uses so many kinds of new technology. People can see that environmentally-friendly technologies really work. He hopes that people will begin using these technologies in everyday life.