We reported a few weeks ago on a solar powered plane reaching the halfway point on its journey from western Switzerland to the Moroccan city of Rabat.
Well, we have good news – the voyage of Solar Impulse has been a success! The plane touched down in North Africa after setting off on the second leg of its flight from Madrid.
The stretch lasted 19 hours, with the pilots arriving to cheers from representatives from the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy, journalists and many others.
Pilot Bertrand Piccard said: "Aside from technical and political reasons behind the decision to fly to Morocco, simply the flight over the Gibraltar straight was a magical moment and represents one of the highlights of my career as an aeronaut."
The flight also proved a success for solar power – co-founder of Solar Impulse Andre Borschberg revealed that even after such a long flight, the plane landed "with a full set of batteries".
As Andre rightly points out, this shows that confidence in new technologies is building, which can only be a good thing for the solar power industry.
Posted by Mike Peacock