Word: projectable
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...hangar outside Zurich, engineers are paring away at the obstacles to a very 21st century challenge: flying a plane around the world powered by nothing but the rays of the sun. If the Solar Impulse project goes to plan, in 2011 a gangly aircraft with the wingspan of an Airbus A380 and the weight of a compact car will attempt to circle the globe in about a month at an average speed of 43 m.p.h. (70 km/h), landing only five times along...
This odyssey is not merely an epic adventure. "The achievement won't be just to go around the world," says the man behind the project, Bertrand Piccard, "but to encourage a complete paradigm shift on how we use energy." Piccard, a 49-year-old Swiss psychiatrist and aeronaut, knows a thing or two about high-altitude derring-do. In 1999, he and a partner, Brian Jones, became the first people to circumnavigate the earth in a balloon, but it rankled Piccard that doing so required burning nearly four tons of propane gas. "The balloon flight was a personal dream...
That prospect is inspiring enough to have attracted $67 million - about two-thirds of the project's overall budget - from a trio of high-profile sponsors: Swiss watchmaker Omega, part of the Swatch Group, which brings expertise in both miniaturization and efficient energy use; Deutsche Bank, which is keen to green its investment portfolio; and Belgian chemical and materials group Solvay, which backed the exploits of Piccard's grand-father, Auguste, when he co-piloted a balloon beyond the stratospheric altitude...
...same amount of energy needed to light a large Christmas tree. That solar power drives four electric engines, and loads four lithium batteries - a quarter of the aircraft's total weight of 3,300 lbs. (1,500 kg) - which allow the plane to continue flying through the night. Project director and co-pilot André Borschberg says that while labs around the world are developing lighter and more effective batteries, those currently available impose severe limits on the plane's weight. "With twice the battery capacity, we'd have a different plane," he says. And perhaps a more comfortable...
...writer, priest and the founding figure of modern Indonesian architecture. Mangunwijaya stressed the importance of spending money on training first and materials second - a teaching adhered to by his disciple. "He wanted to empower the people," recalls Prawoto, "by giving them a skill that would last beyond any one project." And that accumulated knowledge informs Prawoto's attitude to construction. "I have learned a lot from local builders and carpenters who know best how to use materials from here," he says...