Solar Impulse

[Chainring]

Solar Impulse to land soon, complete with ground crew chasing on E-Bikes. (Posh ones). Solar Impulse very similar to Justin across Canada on an EBike for ten dollars!

 

[flecc]

After waiting for several minutes for the solar impulse.com site to load without success, I concluded they must use solar power for their servers!

An interesting project but a complete dead end, as with solar land vehicles, no useful payloads possible so no practical use.

 

[Chainring]

After waiting for several minutes for the solar impulse.com site to load without success, I concluded they must use solar power for their servers!

An interesting project but a complete dead end, as with solar land vehicles, no useful payloads possible so no practical use.

As Bertrand Piccard stresses, the aim of Solar Impulse is not to "revolutionise aviation" but to make progress in exploring new possibilities.

 

[Scimitar]

An interesting project but a complete dead end, as with solar land vehicles, no useful payloads possible so no practical use.

Oh, I dunno. Remove the weight of the pilot, stick in some guidance, comms and munitions and you have a very useful tool.

 

[billadie]

Oh, I dunno. Remove the weight of the pilot, stick in some guidance, comms and munitions and you have a very useful tool.

True, but limited as a night fighter.

 

[Scimitar]

True, but limited as a night fighter.

But great for hanging around at height during the day and simply glide back to operations when done. A small thruster for backup to help the glide, just in case.

 

[Blew it]

One hellava radar signature though

 

[Scimitar]

One hellava radar signature though

I don't know if that'd be all that important, depending on the parties being surveilled.

 

[flecc]

Oh, I dunno. Remove the weight of the pilot, stick in some guidance, comms and munitions and you have a very useful tool.

One small missile maybe, but needing a very wide aircraft carrier for reloading!