World's first commercial solar aircraft aims for the Stratosphere

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By Matthew Griffin Future Transport 22nd July 2018

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Tomorrow’s aircraft will be battery powered, but future generations of aircraft could do away with the batteries entirely.

While Elon Musk is invested in getting humans to different places, whether it’s from one side of the planet to the other in rocketships, or to Mars, also in rocketships, at breakneck speeds using unbelievable technologies, there may be one day where we circumvent this Earth of ours without using a single drop of fuel, using planes that are powered by electricity, such as the ones being designed right now by Airbus, Boeing, Rolls Royce, Wright Electric, and Zunum Aero, who want to be the “Tesla of the skies,” and not fossil fuels.

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SolarStratos is also a company with the same ambition and they’ve created a manned aerial vehicle with a two person capacity, an incredibly large wingspan, and the ability to completely run on nothing but solar power, so much so that it doesn’t have any fuel on board at all – nothing, not one drop. Oil barons feel free to look away now and cry into your mountains of dwindling cash.

SolarStratos aims for the heavens

The massive wingspan has a twofold purpose. It not only enables the plane to fly without using as much propelling power, but it also comes with solar panels mounted all over it.

The Switzerland based company’s plane has already set records for being the first solar powered airplane to reach heights of 25,000 meters, and made from custom as well as off the shelf parts, the SolarStratos plane comes with an Austrian made 20 kWh battery, solar panels from California based SunPower, and given the heights it reaches, the pilots will be clad in specially designed pressurized spacesuits made by Russian company Zvezda.

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SolarStratos’s founder Raphaël Domjan hopes to develop a technology that can battle climate change and champion solar power over high octane fuel. Once the technology is proven to work, the company aims to build a 3 manned vehicle too that will include a pressurised cabin and will operate commercial space tourism flights as soon as 2021.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, described as “The Adviser behind the Advisers” and a “Young Kurzweil,” is the founder and CEO of the World Futures Forum and the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures consultancy working across the next 50 years, and is an award winning futurist, and author of “Codex of the Future” series.

Regularly featured in the global media, including AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, RT, Viacom, and WIRED, Matthew’s ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of revolutionary emerging technologies on global culture, industry and society, is unparalleled. Recognised for the past six years as one of the world’s foremost futurists, innovation and strategy experts Matthew is an international speaker who helps governments, investors, multi-nationals and regulators around the world envision, build and lead an inclusive, sustainable future.

A rare talent Matthew’s recent work includes mentoring Lunar XPrize teams, re-envisioning global education and training with the G20, and helping the world’s largest organisations envision and ideate the future of their products and services, industries, and countries.

Matthew's clients include three Prime Ministers and several governments, including the G7, Accenture, Aon, Bain & Co, BCG, Credit Suisse, Dell EMC, Dentons, Deloitte, E&Y, GEMS, Huawei, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Lego, McKinsey, PWC, Qualcomm, SAP, Samsung, Sopra Steria, T-Mobile, and many more.