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<\/p>\nOfficially launched in 2003, Solar Impulse is an extraordinary technological adventure. A cutting-edge scientific program, a veritable technical laboratory capable of flying around the planet without using any polluting energy. <\/p>\n
It’s also a crazy gamble. That of Bertrand Piccard and Andr\u00e9 Borschberg, two pioneers with a fierce desire to change the world, to go beyond the limits of what is possible to improve the quality of life for humanity. Solar Impulse was not built to carry passengers, but to carry messages,” says Bertrand Piccard. We want to demonstrate the importance of the pioneering spirit, to encourage people to question their certainties.” A spirit of adventure, technical innovation, technological progress… To go from dream to project and from project to reality, sixteen long years will have elapsed between the birth of the idea in Bertrand Piccard’s mind, in 1999, and its consecration in 2015.
\nAfter crossing America in 2013 aboard the Solar Impulse 1 prototype, the visionary project shifted up a gear in 2015 by completing the first solar-powered flight around the world. Setting off from Abu Dhabi in March, Solar Impulse 2 is due to complete its circumnavigation in five months, with stopovers in Oman, India, China, the USA, Southern Europe and North Africa. “The question now is not so much whether man will be able to go even further and populate other planets, the question is how to organize himself in such a way as to make life on Earth increasingly worth living,” declared Auguste Piccard in 1931 following his first stratospheric ascent. <\/p>\n
With Solar Impulse, his grandson has come up with a way of changing the world. Solar, ingenious… bright! <\/p>\n
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1<\/strong> unique aircraft capable of flying day and night without fuel or pollutant emissions. Bertrand Piccard <\/strong>The great feats of the 20th century were conquests: the Poles, Everest, the Abyss, the Moon. Those of the 21st century, in my opinion, should be much more about preserving and even improving the quality of life on our planet. How can we reconcile economic and ecological interests, promote the use of new technologies to save energy and create alternative sources? Solar Impulse is a symbol of this state of mind. <\/span><\/p>\n
\n12<\/strong> years of feasibility studies, conception, design and construction.
\n72-meter<\/strong> wingspan, larger than a Boeing 747-800.
\n17,248<\/strong> solar cells integrated into the wing to power four electric motors with renewable energy.
\n2,300<\/strong> kg, equivalent to the weight of a car.
\n35,000<\/strong> km around the world at speeds of 50 to 100 km\/h.
\n2<\/strong> pilots who take turns at each stopover.
\n80<\/strong> technicians and engineers mobilized for the round-the-world tour.
\n25<\/strong> days flying around the world in 2015.<\/p>\n![\"Andr\u00e9-Borschberg,-Bertrand-Piccard-and-the-Solar-Impulse-\u00a9-Regis-Colombo---Diapo.ch\"](\"https:\/\/lionel-meylan.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/andre-borschberg-bertrand-piccard-et-le-solar-impulse-regis-colombo-diapo-ch_-1024x683..jpg\")
Andr\u00e9 Borschberg, Bertrand Piccard and the Solar Impulse <\/small>\u00a9 Regis Colombo \/ Diapo.ch<\/span><\/figure>\nPioneers’ words<\/h3>\n
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