On solar wing and a prayer

Buffeted by strong desert winds, Solar Impulse 2 had a bumpy leg to the culmination point in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday of a stupendous circumnavigation of the globe. In conquering every hazard thrown up by the challenge of new technology powering the prototype purely on a renewable energy source through 17,000 solar cells on its long wings, the two Swiss pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, have proved their point in splendid manner. The 16-month, 17-stage journey would have been worth every bit of its adventurousness as it proves the point that modern man is on the cusp of fantastic breakthroughs that can change the way the world lives even as attempts have to be made to save the planet from environmental depredation.

When Borschberg crossed the Pacific — a journey of 6,500 km — he had completed the longest uninterrupted journey in aviation history, just one of 19 records broken. All this was done on a single seat — also doubling up as a toilet — in a non-pressurised cabin no bigger than a telephone booth. Unlike Christopher Columbus, these adventurers actually landed in two places in India (Ahmedabad and Varanasi). It is now up to ingenuity in engineering to derive inspiration from the event and show the way to using the power of the Sun.