Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Successful test for no-fuel plane Solar Impulse

On April 7, 2010, just before 10.30am Solar Impulse took off for the first time from Payerne. It’s the first aircraft designed to fly night and day without fuel and polluting emissions. The carbon fibre plane has a wingspan comparable to an Airbus A340. 12,000 solar cells are built into its wings to power four electric engines and to charge batteries to enable flying at night. The flight lasted around one hour thirty minutes. (TSR/swissinfo.ch)

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR