Solar energy powered aircraft to fly across US

摘要

Solar Impulse, the ultra-lightweight aircraft with materials from Bayer MaterialScience on board, is set to fly across the United States powered solely by solar energy. The unprecedented flight from the Pacific to the Atlantic is scheduled to take place in multiple stages beginning this May. It is another important step toward the aircraft's ultimate mission scheduled for 2015 -to become the first manned aircraft to circumnavigate the globe without any fuel. Bayer MaterialScience has been collaborating with the Swiss Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, co-founders of the .Solar Impulse project. "With this cooperation we are truly living our motto - 'Bayer: Science for a Better Life' - as we make progress together toward more energy-efficient transportation solutions in the future," noted Mr. Patrick Thomas, CEO of Bayer MaterialScience. Among the high-performance products and solutions the company provides to the plane are polyurethane rigid foams for the wing tips, motor gondolas and cabin, as well as polycarbonate films for the cabin window. In addition, adhesive and coating based on raw materials from Bayer MaterialScience are used in several places. Solar Impulse's scheduled flight from San Francisco at the Pacific coast via Phoenix, Dallas and Wash- ington to New York City at the Atlantic coast will be its longest mission to date. During the day, 12,000 solar cells on the surface of the aircraft power four electric motors and charge four lithium polymer batteries, enabling the aircraft to fly with solar energy during the night.