Solar-Powered Plane Takes Off for Flight Around the World
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — A Swiss solar-powered plane took off from Abu Dhabi early Monday, marking the start of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel.

Solar Impulse founder André Borschberg was at the controls of the single-seater when it took off from the Al Bateen Executive Airport. Borschberg will trade off piloting with Solar Impulse co-founder Bertrand Piccard during stop-overs on a journey that will take months to complete.

The Swiss pilots say their aim is to create awareness about replacing "old polluting technologies with clean and efficient technologies."

The plane is expected to reach its first destination — Muscat, Oman — after about 10 hours of flight.

Some legs of the trip, such as over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, will mean five or six straight days of flying solo.

The lightweight Solar Impulse 2, a larger version of a single-seat prototype that first flew five years ago, is made of carbon fiber and has 17,248 solar cells built into the wing that supply the plane with renewable energy. The solar cells recharge four lithium polymer batteries.

The company says the plane has a 72-meter (236-foot) wingspan, larger than that of the Boeing 747, but weighs about as much as a car at around 2,300 kilograms (5,070 pounds).

The plane in June made an inaugural flight of two hours and 17 minutes above western Switzerland, just two months after it was unveiled.

After Oman, the plane will head to India, where it will make two stops, then to China and Myanmar before heading across the Pacific and stopping in Hawaii. Then it will head to Phoenix, Arizona, and New York's biggest airport, John F. Kennedy International. The path across the Atlantic will depend on the weather and could include a stop in southern Europe or Morocco before ending in Abu Dhabi.

The round-the-world trip is expected to end in late July or even August.

Borschberg and Piccard say they want to push politicians, celebrities and private citizens to "confront the Conference on Climate Change of the United Nations, which will define the new Kyoto protocol in December 2015 in Paris." All countries are supposed to present targets for a new global climate agreement that governments plan to adopt at the meeting.

Solar Impulse supporter Prince Albert of Monaco was present at the Monaco control center during Monday's takeoff.

The UAE-based Masdar, the Abu Dhabi government's clean-energy company, is a key sponsor of the flight. Additional sponsors include Omega, Google and Moet Hennessey, among others.

瑞士冒險家 挑戰太陽能環球飛行

瑞士冒險家皮卡德與包斯科柏格預定9日在阿布達比展開空前的太陽能動力環球飛行，首站將抵達阿曼，其次是印度，接著於未來5個月相繼飛越太平洋與大西洋。

皮卡德與包斯科柏格將在嘗試締造這項新猷的過程中，輪流操控翼展72公尺，重僅2.3噸的單座「太陽驅動2號」螺旋槳飛機。2人在沿途的不同地點休息並執行必要的維修，同時宣傳乾淨科技的優點。

率先負責操控的包斯科柏格表示：「我認為，我們擁有一架非常特別的飛機。它必須能夠帶著我們飛越海洋。我們可能必須連續5晝夜飛行；這將是挑戰。不過在未來2個月分站飛往中國大陸的過程中，我們將有機會訓練自己。」

這項計畫已經締造多項太陽能動力飛行的世界紀錄，包括2013年飛越美國。此次的環球飛行更具挑戰性，而且必須建造比原型機「太陽驅動1號」更大的輕型機。

它的輕重量攸關任務的成敗。其他關鍵包括排列在2側機翼上的1.7萬個太陽能電池，以及夜間飛行時，負責提供動力的鋰電池表現。

在2人飛越太平洋與大西洋的過程中，夜間操控特別重要。「太陽驅動2號」飛行速度不快，意味站與站之間的飛行必須連續數日夜不間斷進行。

輪值操控的其中任何一人必須在「太陽驅動2號」飛行時，近乎全程提高警覺，一次最多只能打盹20分鐘。2人還必須忍受局限於3.8平方公尺狹小駕駛艙內的極度不適。

摩納哥的一間控制室負責全程監控，另一組工程師則全程跟隨「太陽驅動2號」。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/08/world/middleeast/ap-solar-plane.html

2015-03-09．聯合晚報．A6．國際焦點．編譯陳世欽