The solar-powered plane attempting to fly around the world will remain grounded at Honolulu’s Kalaeloa Airport until at least April of next year. The team behind the Solar Impulse 2 says overheated batteries have caused irreversible damage to the plane. HPR’s Molly Solomon has the latest.
The solar plane overheated its batteries after flying a record breaking five-day journey from Japan to Hawai‘i. The batteries, a crucial part of the Solar Impulse 2, stores the energy collected from the sun during the day to power the plane through the night. Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg says the team first noticed the batteries overheating during the recent Japan to Honolulu leg, but could not bring down the batteries temperature. “We had some difficulties and overheating of the batteries,” said Borschberg. “After checking what happened, we came to the conclusion that we preferred to change these batteries before going further into the flight around the world.”
BREAKING NEWS: irreversible damage to overheated batteries in #Si2 pushes the second half of the #RTW to April 2016 pic.twitter.com/VuInioo9fG
— SOLAR IMPULSE (@solarimpulse) July 15, 2015
Borschberg says it will take several months to manufacture enough batteries to replace the ones that were damaged. By then the days will have become too short to ensure there’s enough sun light to power the plane for the remainder of its journey. “It’s going to be too late for us to cross the second part of the ocean,” Borschberg explained. “The days will be shorter; the nights will be longer, which makes it more difficult for a solar powered airplane. That’s the reason why we have asked for the hospitality here in Hawai‘i for the winter.”
The delay allows the plane’s engineering team to study ways to better cool the battery system during the plane’s longer legs. Both the University of Hawai‘i and state transportation officials have agreed to store the solar plane in a hangar at Kalaeloa airport. “We’ll be gone for a few months, but we’ll be back certainly early next year,” said Borschberg. “We’ll be back for public visits, to interact with the University students. I think it gives us an opportunity to interact more with everyone here on the island.”
If all goes well with the plane’s repairs, the Solar Impulse 2 will try to complete the second half of their journey around the world in late April 2016.
