The Solar Impulse 2 mission to fly around the world is off to a roaring start. On Monday the plane departed Abu Dhabi on the first leg of a long journey, and yesterday it was already setting world records: Bertrand Piccard flew the 910-mile trip from Oman to Ahmadabad, India, the longest continuous solar-powered flight.Piccard, co-polit Andre Borschberg, and their team have been setting records since they started flying the original Solar Impulse around Europe and eventually on a tour of America. The larger, globetrotting Solar Impulse 2 is an engineering marvel of solar cells and lightweight materials. As USA Today reports, “the plane has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 but the weight of a family car.“The next leg will take the sunny aircraft from Ahmedabad to Varanasi, India. Follow the journey live on the Solar Impulse website.View full post on TwitterView full post on TwitterSource: GizmodoAndrew MosemanSite DirectorAndrew’s from Nebraska. His work has also appeared in Discover, The Awl, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Playboy, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn with two cats and a snake.
