Solar Plane Ready for Biggest Test Yet

Topics: In The News ,; Tech Talk

A Swiss team hoping to one day circle the globe in a solar-powered plane intends to take the craft out for a spin around Switzerland as soon as weather conditions become "favorable."

(Credit: Solar Impulse)

In a blog post, Solar Impulse said its plane is scheduled to lift off from an airport in Payerne, Switzerland and then head for Geneva. After a stopover, the plane will pass over the Lake of Geneva, the regions of Fribourg, Bern and Aarau and then land at Zurich airport.

Earlier this year, the plane, known as HB-SIA, registered a couple of successful test flights - including an endurance test requiring it to remain aloft for 24 hours. The ultimate goal is to circumnavigate the globe in 2013, with five stops along the route. The current four-engine plane is powered by solar cells, rechargeable lithium batteries and electric motors attached to the wings and body. The craft has the wingspan of a Boeing commercial passenger jet and can climb to a height of 28,000 feet at maximum speeds of over 75 mph.

Assuming all goes according to plan, Solar Impulse will build a larger version of its current craft to handle the more demanding conditions of an around-the-world flight. (Here's a brief video that CBS News filmed of the HB-SIA earlier this summer.)

The project's co-founder, Bertrand Piccard, achieved the first nonstop circumnavigation of the globe in a balloon, the Breitling Orbiter III, in 1999.