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I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got ... fossil fuels

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Shanta Barley | 11:34 UK time, Friday, 26 June 2009

Stratospheric swashbuckler Bertrand Piccard reveals today the prototype of a sun-powered plane that he hopes will allow humans to fly 'forever', long after the sun has set and fossil fuels have run out, according to BBC News.

More petrel than petrol, Piccard's plane runs on zero-carbon sunlight. (Conventional aircraft burn 2-3% of the world's fossil fuel, according to the Encyclopedia of Energy and Engineering, and represent a growing source of emissions.)

The HB-SIA is not the first of its kind (take MacCready's Gossamer Penguin), but if Piccard's dream takes off, he may become the first human to fly a sun-powered plane at night.

Weighing no more than a car, the plane is peppered with enough solar cells (11, 628 to be precise), batteries, motors and propellors to keep it aloft after darkness falls.

No point trying to book a seat yet, however: right now, the HB-SIA can only seat one person, and even then it needs a wingspan of 60-80m, according to the project's website.

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