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Period: to
Timespan of Solar Aviation
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The History of Solar Flight
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Sunrise I
This airplane was developed by RJ Boucher in California. It flew for 20 minutes and other flights lasting for 3 to 4 hours. -
Sunrise II
This time the Sunrise II was more successful than the Sunrise I, because its solar cells were more efficient. -
Solaris
Helmut Bruss’s aircraft's solar cells overheated, but Militky’s airplane flew for 150 seconds on average in a total of three flights. -
Solar I
The Solar I was the first piloted solar aircraft. It used nickel-cadmium batteries to store power. -
Solair I
This plane flew a total of five hours and 41 minutes alone. -
Gossamer Penguin
First aircraft to fly solely on solar power. It could fly over the English Channel while carrying a pilot. -
Solar Challenger
Made a flight from Paris to England in less than 6 hours. It also had much better solar cells. -
Sunseeker
This aircraft required battery power to ascend. It was also first used as a glider. The Sunseeker II is now the only solar aircraft currently in use. -
Helios
Also a plane used by NASA, but was destroyed during test runs. It broke the record height for solar aviation when it reached an altitude of 96,863 feet. -
Zephyr
Light enough to be launched by hand but strong enough to carry 1000 pounds, the Zephyr broke records when it flew for 3 and a half days straight. -
Pathfinder
NASA’s Pathfinder, designed by the same company that created the Penguin and Challenger above, was originally built in the early 1980′s but sat in storage before a series of test flights in 1993 and 1994. The Pathfinder set a new altitude record for solar aviation in 1995, reaching over 50,000 feet. In 1998, longer wings were added to the unmanned solar plane and the aircraft was renamed the Pathfinder Plus. Pathfinder Plus beat previous altitude records when it reached nearly 97,000 feet in -
Solair II
The second version of the Solair I. This plane used Sanyo batteries and flew at an average speed of 50 kph.
