Solar Impulse 2, a plane powered by solar energy, made a successful test flight today.
The plane's pilot and mission chief said it will be used for a round-the-world trip in 2015, according to The Local.ch.
German test pilot Markus Scherdel said the flight lasted two hours and 15 minutes, which was a half hour longer than scheduled.
"Everything worked as expected," Scherdel said in a press conference at an air base in Payerne, in the Swiss Canton of Vaud.
"Of course, we have to do more testing, but it's a good start, and I'm looking forward to flying the airplane the next time."
Scherdel flew up to just under 6,000 feet and conducted different maneuvers to prove the aircraft's handling. He reported that there were some vibrations early on, but the overall outcome of the mission appeared successful, BBC News reported.
"The initial results are in line with calculations and simulations," the Solar Impulse team said in a statement.
More flight tests will be held for Solar Impulse 2 in the coming months in order for it to be certified.
"It's a great day for all the team of Solar Impulse," said Bertrand Piccard, co-founder of the project.
"An aeroplane like this is absolutely unique. And for the first time in history, we have an aeroplane that is flying with no fuel day and night, showing the incredible potential of the clean technologies - all these technologies that the world can also use in order to reduce the dependency to fossil fuel and to be cleaner and solve a lot of problems of pollution."
The plane is the successor of Solar Impulse, which set a record of flying 26 hours nonstop in 2010. The team is looking to fly Solar Impulse 2 non-stop for over 120 hours (five days and five nights). The flight will take place in March of next year, and will circle the world eastwards, The Local.ch reported.
The plane will take off from the Persian Gulf and fly over the Arabian Sea to India, Myanmar and China. It will then cross the Pacific Ocean, the United States, the Atlantic Ocean, southern Europe and North Africa. Afterwards, it will return to its point of departure.
Piccard and Andre Borschberg, co-founder of Solar Impulse and former Swiss airforce pilot, said that a plane equipped with efficient solar cells and batteries, along with ultra-light materials, could be successfully powered by solar energy, The Local.ch reported.
Borschberg said the test flight was "a very important step."
"Our goal is to fly around the world next year, and we needed an airplane able to travel the first step, a flying laboratory," he stated. "This airplane will travel many days and many nights over the ocean, so it's a big step up from the first one."
