The route includes landings in Myanmar; China; India; Phoenix, Arizona; and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. At speeds between 50 and 100 kilometers per hour (31-62 mph) Piccard and Borschberg aim to circle the globe flying about 25 days over a total of about five months.
An earlier version of the plane was the first solar-powered aircraft to fly at night, thanks to advanced solar cells that charge light-weight lithium batteries. The batteries are able to store enough energy to allow the plane to fly long distances at night. Developers say Solar Impulse 2 takes what engineers learned from its predecessor and pushes it a step further.
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Borschberg came to the project with more than two decades as a Swiss Air Force fighter pilot.
