This morning, at 6:51 am (Swiss local time), the solar powered “Solar Impulse HB-SIA” airplane, backed by Deutsche Bank as a main partner, took off from the Swiss town Payerne to the first day and night-flight solely with the power of the sun. The plane, which is flown by André Borschberg, is expected to stay non-stop 25 hours in the air.

As the telemetry transmitter, a little box as small as a mobile phone which stopped Solar Impulse HB-SIA from its first night flight attempt last Thursday shortly before take-off, has been replaced, the circumstances seem to be highly promising.

“For 7 years now, the whole team has been passionately working to achieve this first decisive step of the project”, said André Borschberg a few minutes before easing himself into the cockpit. If this mission is successful, Solar Impulse will not only set a decisive milestone for the project itself but for the history of aviation: never has a solar powered airplane flown throughout the night.

At 5 am (Swiss local time) Solar Impulse HB-SIA was towed to the runway, where the final ground tests were done. The take-off took place two hours later. The further flight plan foresees that the plane will climb to 8,500 meters above sea level, while charging its batteries to maximum levels until the afternoon. About two hours before sunset, when the sunrays are not strong enough to supply the solar cells with energy, the HB-SIA will start descending to 1,500 meters. This altitude is supposed to be kept until the next morning by using the energy stored during the day. The landing is scheduled for Thursday morning – provided that everything goes well and the weather stays stable.

The big question is whether the pilot can make such efficient use of the energy from the battery to fly throughout the night.

There is a live webcast available, which gives more insights behind the scenes with views from the cockpit, interviews with the pilot and more.

To the live webcast