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Solar Impulse 2 to Touch Down in Nanjing

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Nanjing is just one of a select few cities worldwide that will play host to the record-breaking attempt to circumnavigate the globe in an aircraft powered solely by the Sun, when Solar Impulse 2 lands at Lukou International Airport this weekend.

According to Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, after spending just a day in Chongqing, Solar Impulse will stay in Nanjing for a whole month for the purposes of academic exchange.

A purpose built inflatable hanger has been erected at Lukou; at 16,000 square metres in area it is large enough to protect Solar Impulse 2 from the elements, with its wingspan bigger than that of a Boeing 747. Yet, only one of the two Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg are able to pilot the aircraft on each leg of the attempt; the unpressurised cockpit is the size of a phone box. Their support team comprises physicists, mechanical and aerospace engineers, structural and aerodynamics experts, plus composite materials professionals.

Beginning their five-month mission on 9th March in Abu Dhabi, the Solar Impulse 2 route takes it to Muscat, Ahmedabad, Varanasi and Mandalay before Chongqing. After Nanjing it is off to Hawaii, Phoenix, another To-Be-Confirmed location in the USA, and New York before returning to Abu Dhabi. The endurance effort includes many days on the ground, for technical inspection, talks with industry representatives and engineering students, media opportunities, as well as allowing for weather windows. Yet, the flights themselves are also time consuming; Solar Impulse flies along at an average of only 75 kilometres an hour.

The impetus behind the attempt is to to raise awareness for the possibilities of clean energy. Speaking with reporters upon arrival at Ahmedabad, the two pilots said, “We can do impossible things with solar power, with new technologies. This is what we want to share”.

Piccard and Borschberg’s first ultralight aircraft, Solar Impulse, made a record-setting, coast-to-coast journey across the United States in the summer of 2013.

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