Solar Impulse completes historic tour around globe

ISTANBUL (AA) – Solar Impulse 2 early Tuesday became the first solar powered-plane to complete a tour around the world.

The plane landed in Abu Dhabi on the last leg of its journey that started from that city last March.

“We made it! We flew 40,000km [25,000 miles] without fuel,” according to the plane's official Twitter account.

It took off from Cairo two days ago to complete its circumnavigation.

Solar Impulse 2 has a 72-meter (236-foot) wingspan, longer than a Boeing 747’s.

Its wings are covered in 17,000 solar cells that generate enough energy to propel the 2.3-ton vehicle at an average speed of 70 kilometers (43 miles) per hour.

The vast wingspan is lit up by rows of led lights.

Solar Impulse, born in Switzerland, is the brainchild of “two pioneers flying around the world in a solar airplane, to promote clean technologies”, according to the project’s website.

Bertnard Piccard, psychiatrist by profession and an aeronaut, along with engineer and entrepreneur Andre Borschberg, began flying the first prototype in 2009.