Flying Across America Using Only Solar Power
飛越美國全靠太陽能
By Diane Cardwell

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California – When Bertrand Piccard was growing up in Switzerland, heady discussions about the boundless potential for human endeavor were standard fare.
皮卡德在瑞士成長期間，放言高論人類創新的無窮潛能直如家常便飯。

His grandfather, a physicist and friend of Albert Einstein and Marie Curie, had invented a special capsule so he and a partner could be first to reach the stratosphere in a balloon. His father, an engineer, helped design the submarine that made him and an American naval officer the first to plunge undersea to the deepest part spot on the earth’s crust.
他的物理學家祖父是愛因斯坦與居里夫人的好友，曾經設計一個特殊飛行艙，讓自己與另一夥伴可率先搭乘熱氣球飛抵同溫層。他的工程師父親曾經協助設計一艘潛水艇，使自己與一美國海軍軍官率先潛至地表大海的最深處。

“All the most incredible things seemed to be completely normal,” Mr. Piccard, a psychiatrist trained in hypnosis, said at Moffett Field at the NASA Ames Research Center here, as he prepared for his next expedition. “I thought this was the normal way to live.”
皮卡德是長於催眠術的精神病學家。他在美國太空總署艾姆斯研究中心的莫菲特場為下一次探險做準備時說：「所有最令人難以置信的事都顯得完全正常。我認為這就是正常的生活方式。」

He went on to become part of the team that was first to circumnavigate the globe nonstop in a balloon. But when a propane shortage nearly ended his record-setting ride in 1999, he began dreaming of a way to fly day and night without fuel, an idea that has resulted in a featherweight solar airplane set out in its voyage across the United States on May 3.
他是率先搭乘熱氣球不落地環球一周的團隊成員之一。由於丙烷不足險些終結他1999年締造新猷的飛行，他開始夢想不需燃料即可日夜飛行的境界。這個發想最後造就一輛超輕太陽能飛機，並於5月3日展開飛越美國本土的旅程。

The Solar Impulse is not the first sun-powered plane to fly; its chief distinction is its ability to go through the night.
「太陽動力號」不是第一架以太陽能為動力來源的飛機，主要特色在於可全天候飛行。

While it could be decades, at least, before ordinary travelers board solar electric planes, the technology is under consideration for drones, which risk damage each time they land to refuel.
一般人可能至少要到數十年後才能乘太陽能飛機翱翔天空。不過有關方面已經開始考慮製造太陽能動力無人飛機。無人機落地加油時可能受損。

And some of the technologies developed for Solar Impulse – which has a wingspan matching that of a 747 but the weight of a midsize car – are set for commercial use, including the batteries used to store the solar energy and the foam that insulates them.
「太陽動力號」翼展與波音747客機相當，重量卻只相當於中型小汽車。專家為它研發的部分科技即將推廣使用，包括貯存太陽能的電池與隔絕這些電池的泡沫塑料。

The Solar Impulse cockpit fits only one, so Mr. Piccard will trading legs of the journey with his partner, André Borschberg, flying at about 73 kilometers per hour for 18 to 20 hours at a time. The aircraft could theoretically fly continuously, but the pilots – despite Mr. Piccard’s apparent skill at self-hypnosis and Mr. Borschberg’s explorations of yoga and meditation – cannot. The plane’s sensitivity to turbulence demands attention.
「太陽動力號」的駕駛艙只能容納一人，皮卡德與夥伴包許柏格只好輪流駕駛，每次各飛行18到20小時，平均時速約73公里。理論上飛機可以不間斷飛行，皮卡德與包許柏格卻辦不到（雖然皮卡德會自我催眠，包斯奇柏格對瑜伽與冥想頗有研究）。此外，這架飛機對亂流非常敏感，必須特別留意。

The men have stopped in Phoenix, Dallas and St. Louis. They plan a stop in Washington, D.C., before a final landing at Kennedy Airport in New York near the end of June. The voyage is a precursor to a planned trip around the globe in 2015 for which the team is building a second plane, adding adjustments like an autopilot and reclining seat, to help them fly for as many as five days straight.
兩人已先後在鳳凰城、達拉斯、聖路易落地停留。他們接著打算在華府停留，最後於本月底前，在紐約的甘迺迪機場降落。這趟旅程是為2015年環球飛行計畫熱身。為了迎接屆時的環球飛行，皮卡德團隊正在建造第二架飛機。他們做了些調整，包括增添自動駕駛功能及可後仰座椅，讓他們最長可連飛5天。

The two met after Mr. Piccard presented his idea for fuel-free flight to the Swiss Institute of Technology, which put Mr. Borschberg in charge of studying the project. He ended up overseeing the aircraft’s design and construction, including its nearly 12,000 solar cells. Mr. Piccard turned to raising the $140 million in financing and sponsorship to support it.
皮卡德是在向瑞士理工學院提出無燃料飛行構想後，認識包許柏格。該學院委託包斯奇柏格研究構想的可行性。他最後負責監督「太陽動力號」的設計與建造，包括所使用的近1.2萬個太陽能電池。皮卡德負責籌措所需的1.4億美元資金及贊助。

Constructed of a carbon fiber frame, monocrystalline silicon solar panels and a sheer, silver carbon wrapping, the plane is tough enough to reach almost 9,100 meters but so fragile you could put a finger through it.
「太陽動力號」的骨架以碳纖維打造，配備單晶矽太陽能板，機身裹以薄銀碳，約可飛至9100公尺高空，卻脆弱到一根手指就可以戳穿它。

“Everything is so efficient that we can fly only with the sun that we collect in the airplane,” Mr. Borschberg said.
包許柏格說：「效率高到我們僅需利用飛機蒐集的太陽能就可飛行。」

Mr. Piccard said his ballooning experience taught him “different ways of thinking, different ways of reacting, different ways of understanding situations.”
皮卡德說，他的熱氣球飛行經驗使他學會「用不同的的方法去思考、反應及掌握各種狀況」。

“In life,” he said, “you have to drop your certitudes, your common assumptions, your convictions sometimes, to be more flexible to adapt to the unknown.”
他說：「在生命中，有時候你必須拋開自己的成見、假設與信念。唯其如此，你才能更有彈性以適應未知。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/business/energy-environment/cross-country-solar-plane-expedition-set-for-takeoff.html

2013-06-18聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS陳世欽譯 原文參見紐時週報八版上