Solar-powered aircraft aims to travel around the world

Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard has already traveled around the world non-stop in a hot air balloon. But now he has another vision - he wants to become the first man to travel around the world in a solar-powered aircraft.

A tiny one-man pilot cabin and a 64-meter long wing on either side. The solar-powered aircraft weighs some 1,600 kilograms - compare that to an Airbus 340, which weighs some 125 tons without cargo or passengers.

The gigantic wings are essential. On them are 12,000 thin solar cells, which help power the plane and reach 70 kilometers per hour with its four motors and propellers.

Bertrand Piccard (left) didn't build the Solar Impulse alone - it was built with the skills and knowledge of a whole team. In 2003, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne carried out a feasibility study on the "Solar Impulse." Since then, André Borschberg (right) is Piccard's pilot partner.

The Solar Impulse is now on a 5,000 kilometer journey that will take it from San Francisco to New York, with four stops. And because there's only room for one pilot, Piccard and Borschberg are switching at the stops. The journey began in San Francisco on May 3 and is scheduled to end in New York in July.

The second leg of the journey - from Phoenix to Dallas - was especially successful. The Solar Impulse traveled 1,541 kilometers. It was the longest stretch ever traveled by solar-powered aircraft. Borschberg flew without autopilot and was awake for 20 hours.

In 2015, the Solar Impulse will begin its biggest adventure yet - its journey around the world. It won't be the same plane, but a modified version. The current cockpit is too small for someone to spend five days and nights, Broschberg says. And if anyone should know, it would be him.