Two pilots are making a fresh attempt to complete their round-the-world, solar-powered flight. With only one person on board at a time, each will have to endure little sleep, space and other perils of a road less travelled.
Bertrand Piccard’s preflight check on Thursday onboard the Solar Impulse 2 includes monitoring weather patterns from Hawaii to the US mainland, checking the connection between solar panels and the battery and ensuring he applied his anti-hair growth cream.
Solar Impulse 2 is continuing its attempt to make an around-the-world flight without fuel.
The plane was grounded in Hawaii last autumn after experiencing battery problems.
In the unpressurised cockpit of a plane that is built on a strict ethos of efficiency, every opportunity to reduce Solar Impulse’s weight is taken.
That includes factoring in minuscule details, such as creating a better seal on oxygen masks by reducing any chance of a five o’clock shadow on the Swiss pilot’s face.
As the only pilot flying a plane that will take days to make the record-breaking flight from Hawaii to the West Coast of the US, Piccard will have to endure temperatures swinging from 35°C to minus 20°C, with less than 30 per cent oxygen, at 8,700 metres in the air.
To achieve the feat, the plane’s engineers, who Piccard and co-pilot Andre Borschberg have called the real heroes, have designed gear similar to what mountaineers wear on an attempt to reach the top of Everest.
The only difference is, the pilots need to change in a space no larger than a refrigerator.
In fact, they need to do everything in that space, including sleep, eat, change and go to the toilet.
“So the first question is how to get to sleep very quickly and the way we did it is to use meditation and breathing techniques,” Borschberg said in January last year before taking off from Abu Dhabi on the first leg of the flight.
But Piccard is planning to nod off using self-hypnosis by counting while staring at his thumb.
Both techniques call for them to fall asleep quickly and they will need it. They have only a 20-minute window to rest.
“This is not much, so he has to be really focused on his different tasks on the plane,” said Dr Raphael Heinzer, a sleep specialist at Le Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The pilots are scheduled to take 20-minute naps throughout the day because that is the maximum time the plane can be left unattended.
When added up, it amounts to two or three hours of sleep a day, or about 15 hours for the entire trip. Typically, the human body begins to suffer after 24 hours of sleep deprivation.
A University of California, San Diego study shows that sleepier subjects displayed more activity in the prefrontal cortex, or an area of the brain responsible for memory and reasoning.
This was interpreted to show that the sleepier the person was, the harder it was to do simple tasks, let alone fly a fuel-less plane.
Nourishment will come easier. Nestle Research is providing 2.4 kilograms of food and 2.5 litres of water a day.
“We developed special food because the temperature of the cockpit will vary between minus 20°C to 35°C,” Borschberg says.
The food has to be developed specifically to withstand these extreme temperature.
Nestle worked with each pilot over two months to determine their food preferences.
Aside from providing them with enough calories, the researchers acknowledged the emotional association of food and provided snacks outside of the nutritional requirements to help boost morale.
The food is stored in pouches, along with specially designed with beads that create heat through a chemical reaction sparked when water is added.
nalwasmi@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
'Shakuntala Devi'
Starring: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra
Director: Anu Menon
Rating: Three out of five stars
Specs
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What you as a drone operator need to know
A permit and licence is required to fly a drone legally in Dubai.
Sanad Academy is the United Arab Emirate’s first RPA (Remotely Piloted Aircraft) training and certification specialists endorsed by the Dubai Civil Aviation authority.
It is responsible to train, test and certify drone operators and drones in UAE with DCAA Endorsement.
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“You cannot fly a drone without registration under any circumstances.”
Larger drones are harder to fly, and have a different response to location control. There are no brakes in the air, so the larger drones have more power.
The Sanad Academy has a designated area to fly off the Al Ain Road near Skydive Dubai to show pilots how to fly responsibly.
“As UAS technology becomes mainstream, it is important to build wider awareness on how to integrate it into commerce and our personal lives,” said Major General Abdulla Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief, Dubai Police.
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In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
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- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
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Key facilities
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- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
John Cena v Triple H
Matches to be announced
WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Raw Tag Team Championship, United States Championship and the Cruiserweight Championship are all due to be defended
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
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Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
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Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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