Solar craft flew at night

太陽能飛機創夜航紀錄

A Swiss-made giant glider-like aircraft has completed the first night flight propelled only by solar energy, Reuters reported Thursday. Solar Impulse, whose wingspan is the same as an Airbus A340, flew 26 hours and 9 minutes, powered only by solar energy stored during the day. It was also the longest and highest flight in the history of solar aviation, organizers said. Bertrand Piccard, the Swiss president of the project, said: "We are on the verge of the perpetual flight."

據路透社8日報道，瑞士制造的一架巨大的太陽能滑翔式飛機完成了首次夜間航行任務。這架名為"太陽驅動"的飛機有著與空客A340一樣寬的翼展，夜間飛行完全由白天吸收的太陽能驅動，共飛行了26小時零9分鐘。組織者稱這是人類太陽能航空史上飛行最長最高的紀錄。項目負責人、瑞士的貝特朗·皮卡爾說："人類即將邁入永久飛行的時代。"

*以上新聞由ChinaDaily雙語手機報提供