The first solar plane that has completed the round the world (by stages) has been the Impulse II.
This prototype created in Switzerland, began on March 9, 2015, its air adventure that took 504 days in 17 stages to complete, after 41,952 Km and various visicitudes.
This project began in 2005 by its two pilots, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg. After great work and numerous technical and economic problems in April 2010, the first flights were started as a test.
They broke the record as the solar plane who made the longest flight (26 hours 9 minutes) and a record height (8,564 meters).
The Impulse II has 4 electric motors of 7.5 Kw (10hp) and a wing area of 204 m2 with 17,248 solar cells, its weight is 2,300 Kg. It has traveled at an average speed in its 17 stages of 75.2 km / h and has reached a height of 8,874 m.
One of the biggest attractions of this technology is that the only limitation is the rest of the pilot, since he can be flying indefinitely. At night he uses some lithium batteries that he has charged during the morning, which generates an authentic virtuous circle.
The longest stage was the one that passed from Nagoya (Japan) to Hawaii, 117 h 52m and crossing 8,774 km
