We are at the dawn of a new horizon.
The history of aviation is filled with a staggering amount of innovators and explorers. They put their mind and body to the test in order produce one of mankind’s greatest crowning achievements, flight. It has brought with us a level of global connection that shaped the very foundation of how we live. Airplanes have gotten us around the world. It’s development has taken us the very depths of space. It has changed the very shape of warfare. Flight has always inspired a curiosity within each and every one of us. It is a combination of speed, machine, and our natural curiosity to sail the skies. Without flight, mass migrations would be an entirely different experience. Life as we know it might very well not exist.
They say there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, but I beg to differ.
Sometimes we need the challenge. In order to shake our whole outlook how we live our daily lives.
On March 2015 Swiss businessman André Borschberg and Swiss psychiatrist and aeronaut Bertrand Piccard departed from Abu Dhabi in the UAE and made history. Their journey around the world would break records in flight. Opening a new frontier in the solar space. The Solar Impulse 2 is powered by high efficiency solar cells and batteries. There are not carbon emissions to keep the aircraft in flight.
They completed their longest stretch of their journey between Japan and Hawaii. This would be longest length traveled by a solar plane to date. This is important because we have to sometimes look back. When the first air crafts launched they looked nothing like the airplanes utilized today. The technology was different. However, as technologies advanced, so did their applications. Looking at the flight of the wright brothers; you could never imagine that commercially available Jumbo jets of modern standards would be accessible let alone feasible. Yet, here we are.
It still has some growing pains. Solar is still relatively young to the general audience. However, it’s still very much a necessary component to challenge how we use and apply technology for the future. Who knows, we might even see a solar powered jumbo jet in the future.
I know, sounds crazy, but roll back 150 years in human history and they would have laughed at what we’re doing today too. I like to keep imagining that we’re on the cusp of constant change. Something crazy. Something nice. Maybe a little bit of both
I hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Cheers,
Ken
(photo courtesy of info.solarimpulse.com)