An experimental solar-powered plane landed safely Thursday after completing its first 24-hour test flight, proving that the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft(在空中) all night.
Pilot Andre Borschberg eased the Solar Impulse onto the runway at Payerne airfield about 30 miles southwest of the Swiss capital Bern at exactly 9 a.m. (3 a.m. EDT) Thursday. Helpers rushed to stabilize the pioneering plane as it touched down, ensuring that its massive 207-foot wingspan didn't scrape the ground and topple(倾倒) the craft.
The record feat(壮举) completes seven years of planning and brings the Swiss-led project one step closer to its goal of circling the globe using only energy from the sun. ‘We achieved more than we wanted. Everybody is extremely happy,’ Borschberg told reporters after landing.
Previous flights included a brief ‘flea hop’ and a longer airborne test earlier this year, but this week's attempt was described as a ‘milestone’ by the team. The team said it had now demonstrated that the single-seat plane can theoretically stay in the air indefinitely, recharging its depleted batteries using 12,000 solar cells and nothing but the rays of the sun during the day. But while the team said this proves that emissions-free air travel is possible, it doesn't see solar technology replacing conventional jet propulsion(喷气推进) any time soon. Instead, the project's overarching purpose is to test and promote new energy-efficient technologies.
Project co-founder Bertrand Piccard, himself a record-breaking balloonist, said many people had been skeptical that renewable energy could ever be used to take a man into the air and keep him there. ‘It’s a matter of time that people come to believe and understand about renewable energies,’Piccard said, adding that the flight was proof that new technologies can help break society's dependence on fossil fuels.
The team will now set its sights on an Atlantic crossing, before attempting a round-the-world flight in 2013, making only five stops along the way. ‘It's absolutely not time to relax,’ said Piccard.
Title: A 小题1: __________ in solar-powered flight and its background information
A project on solar-powered flight
| Main purpose: To test and promote 小题2: __________
小题3: __________: To make an Atlantic crossing; To attempt a round-the-world flight with only five stops in 2013.
Long-term goal: To circle the globe using only 小题4: __________.
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小题5: __________
| a brief ‘flea hop’;
an airborne test.
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Record-setting test flight
| Name of the plane:小题6: __________
Name of the pilot: Andre Borschberg
Time: 小题7:__________
Length of Place: at Payerne airfield, Switzerland.
Achievements:
●proving that the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft all night, making 小题8: __________possible;
●proving that new technologies can help rid society of 小题9:__________fossil fuels;
●bringing the project 小题10: __________ to its long-term goal.
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