Heat has caused The Solar Impulse 2 to suffer 'irreversible' damage to its batteries!!
The latest delay to the round-the-world trip and this hold-up may cause the plane to miss its 'weather window' for crossing the Atlantic until at least spring next year.
The problem arose when too much insulation caused the plane's battery temperature to spike on the first day of the Pacific flight last month, and there was no way to cool it after Solar Impulse was off the ground, the aircraft's team said.
Needed repairs could take two to three weeks at the earliest. Which may cause the plane to miss its 'weather window' for crossing the Atlantic until at least spring next year. The crew is now looking for ways to improve the battery cooling.
Articles:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33494123
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3159160/Solar-Impulse-2-grounded-Hawaii-Irreversible-battery-damage-sustained-Pacific-flight-mean-plane-miss-window-Atlantic-leg.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/11/travel/solar-impulse-damage-delays-round-the-world-flight/
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Sorry to hear this! But, no matter, it was a landmark flight!
As so often happens with advancing technology there are bugs that need to be worked out. I see them doing just that and this flight will then continue.
Yep. It's just a "bug".
It was certainly a very influential flight!
Why didn't he leave the cockpit and go to the battery storage area in the rear of the a/c?
From what I understand the aircraft has minimal space and movement is very limited during flight.
I was so looking forward to see this flight make it all the way through. I am sure this is a total disappointment for all involved. Hopefully repairs will be done faster than expected.
Figgers - that's them scientists fer ya
Every piece of cutting edge technology suffers from teething problems. This aircraft will live to successfully fly another day.
I think repairs will be made and they will follow their vision and complete their plan.
Over insulated batteries. Thatis notfatal flaw that can and will be fixed.
Good luck to them...This is really quite an advancement, and I fully expect them to complete their plan, and ''Off they go, into the wild blue yonder''.
Latest update 7-15-2015
Full Article: Solar Impulse 2 ABANDONED until 2016
Seems like an issue that should have been discovered in pre-flight testing (or at least anticipated and tested for during the design phase), but it also sounds like something that can be overcome
It also seems odd that they did not design in a manual way to cool the battery storage area, like opening a vent or window.
Oh well on to 2016