The round the globe balloon-traveler duo Swiss scientist-adventurer and pilot Bertrand Piccard and Briton Brian Jones are planning another pace-setting joy ride, but this time it would be the newly divulged HB-SIA aka ‘Solar Impulse’, an airplane powered by the sun. A decade after their first non-stop flight around the world in a hot air balloon, the twosome aim to prove a point that if an aircraft powered exclusively by solar energy can fly day in, day out so could all other means of transport.

The 12000 solar cell studded 63.4-meter jumbo wings of this solar jet give it a wasp-like outline. The cells fuel 400kg batteries and four petite electric motors each encompassing a power of ten horsepower. Clad in delicate carbon fiber concentrate, the aircraft weighs no more than an average car.

The thought of a flight around the world without relying on fossil fuels gives reassurance of the desire that someday the world would run on renewable sources alone. The airliner all-set for its test flight by the year-end would be looking forwards to its record-setting flight somewhere in 2012. Therefore, folks keep your eyes open; you could soon spot it in the sky.

Via Physorg/ SolarImpulse