DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A Swiss-made solar-powered aircraft will start and attempt to finish its first round-the-world flight from the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi, a government-backed renewable energy company in the oil-rich Gulf federation said Thursday.
The choice of Abu Dhabi as the launch site for the historic journey is likely to bolster the wealthy emirate's efforts to position itself as a champion of renewable energy. It controls the bulk of the vast petroleum reserves in the Emirates, a seven-state federation that ranks among the largest oil exporters in OPEC.
Masdar, the Abu Dhabi government's clean-energy company, said the Solar Impulse 2 plane will attempt its historic journey in March. The Solar Impulse 2 was unveiled in April and is a larger version of a single-seat prototype that first flew five years ago. The founders say the plane in theory can stay airborne indefinitely by soaking up sunlight using some 17,200 solar cells arrayed on wings that span 236 feet.
Project founders Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg hope to complete the journey over four or five months, including stopovers in Asia, North America and either Europe or North Africa.
Some legs of the trip, such as over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, could involve five or six straight days of flying.
-- The Associated Press