its completely impractical: the aircraft is only good for one person without facilities such as a bathroom or food. the only reason for a solar aircraft is you dont have to stop. but you need to because of the pilot. so this is really a fruitless endeavor
You obviously didn't do much research if any at all. The pilot has the same means that a U2, or SR-71 pilot had to go to the bathroom and eat food.
The pilots eat food prepared by Nestle and are warmed by a flameless ration heater, similar to those used in MRE's. As far as the bathroom they use it like any other pilot in a 1 seat airplane would. You think a F-16 pilot has a toilet hidden under the ejection seat?
Its not about the problems of going to the bathroom, or eating, its about the mental state of a human on little to no sleep piloting an aircraft that is the biggest hurdle. Over water the flight rules allow sleeping while the plane is put on autopilot, but over land its not allowed. Thats one of the major reasons they are making short hops across the USA.
So yes, the limit is the pilot, but once you prove its possible using the technology to travel around the world using nothing but solar energy, the next logical step is remote control so that you can achieve true non stop flight, maybe that will be a future project for a Solar Impulse 3. Its taking things in simple steps.
Closest it comes to NH is NY 2 stops after Tulsa
Well, if I had to do it all over again, I'd drive 8 hours one way to experience what I experienced. The team was welcoming, and answered any questions you threw at them. They really made you feel special and welcome, and you could detect their passion whenever they spoke.
one of the dudes in this enterprise is named piccard
The jokes on you, its the other way around. HA HA
https://twitter.com/...823651252178944
I actually got to meet Betrand Piccard at the World Future Energy Summit in Dubai when I was there for a solar car race. Unfortunately I didn't actually get to see the plane itself though. Anyway, this is cool stuff, that's pretty sweet that you actually get to be at the takeoff.
Thats freaking awesome, I wasn't able to actually meet him personally (but he was only a few feet away at times) but the man is such an inspiration, you can really detect his passion for life and adventuring when he speaks. Earlier in the day he spoke at ASU graduation for engineering students, I wish when I graduated from the same engineering school they would of had someone like him speak. I must admit I didn't know much about him when I first heard that the team was planning to land in PHX when the journey first started, I just thought it would be pretty neat to see since I enjoy aircraft. Thats really the reason I just went down to the airport at 9 pm to watch the landing from the street because I knew it would be something historic to witness, one of those once in a lifetime kinda things. When I got the status update that they were going to do a public viewing due to the weather making them delay, I jumped at opportunity as fast as I could, I must of been one of the first 200 to sign up because thats only how many people were invited to the take off from those of us that signed up for the public viewing. After being able to talk with actual team members at the public viewing on saturday and rubbing shoulders with them again last night I was really impressed. They have made a follower for life, and perhaps I'll see what I can do to in my life contain more clean energy.
And Crock, I just want to say thanks. This was something very special to me that just kept snowballing and getting bigger and bigger, and I wanted to share it with others who might be interested, and when I saw the sort of treatment the thread was receiving after I first posted, it really demoralized and disappointed me, and caused me to contemplate why I even bother to try to share things on here. So again thanks.