Solar Impulse Lands In Phoenix

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Completing Leg 10 of its round-the-world flight, Solar Impulse 2 landed in Phoenix, Arizona, about 9 p.m. local time on Monday. Pilot Andre Borschberg launched from the airplane’s first U.S. stop, in Mountain View, California, about 5 a.m. local time on Monday, and flew for nearly 16 hours, crossing 720 miles. Strong tailwinds helped boost the airplane’s groundspeed for the leg to 115 mph. Borschberg flew close to Elon Musk’s SpaceX headquarters and above the Mojave Desert, “where many American heroes pushed the limits of aviation,” according to the Solar Impulse website. “Individuals including Burt Rutan, Charles Yeager, Paul MacCready, and Richard Branson have all inspired Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg to build a solar-powered aircraft.”

The next goal for the airplane is to get to New York “as quickly as possible,” according to the team’s website, “in order to allow us enough time to find a good weather window to cross the Atlantic Ocean.” How long they will stay in Phoenix is still unknown, and the next date of departure and destination depends on the weather forecast. Two interim stops in the central U.S. are expected before New York, but the team has not said where they might land. Piccard recently flew the airplane to California, after it laid over for nine months in Hawaii, where the battery system got an upgrade. The team ultimately will reach Abu Dhabi, where the expedition launched last year. Solar Impulse 2 has 17,000 solar cells to power its four motors and to recharge lithium batteries for use at night.

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