2010 Flying with the sun
In Greek mythology, the boy Icarus flew too close to thesun and the wax holding his feathered wings together melted. Since then, girls and boys have built their own kites and toy gliders to safely soar in the sky. These girls and boys have grown up to be the women and men who learned to harness the power of the sun for flight. Asparagliders and glider pilots, they soar like hawks higherand higher, using air heated by the sun, called thermals,to rise high in the sky. They take balloons across the countryside and across continents. With new solar technology, pilots and engineers are expanding flightinto a new world of possibilities.
Space explorers have been using solar energy for many years for power in space stations and satellites. That technology, together with highly advanced electric motors and batteries has returned to earth for improved flight. What new sun-powered combinations between sports aviation, passenger aircraft, and space technology are waiting to take you to the skies in the future?
Already, solar flyers like the Icare II and Sunseeker are pushing the limits of what gliders can do. The SolarImpulse project might soon push these limits further: To fly a solar-powered aircraft around the world.
Not only are they creating a whole new category for solar-powered craft distance and height records to break, they are paving the way for new, fuel efficient ways to fly that take into account how important it is to use energy resources responsibly.
Imagine what the skies would look like in the future as these new technologies merge with traditional solar fliers and take to the air. How will we travel and play in the solar-powered skies? Grab your favorite artist’s tools and create a poster for this year’s competition: Flying with the Sun.
