The aircraft - Solar Impulse-2 - took off from the Emirate, heads east to Muscat in Oman. During the five months of its flight, it will hop from continent to continent, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the process. Andre Borschberg is at the control of the single-seater vehicle as it took off. He will share the pilot duties with fellow Swiss, Bertrand Piccard. Before taking off, Borschberg told, "I am confident we have a very special aeroplane and it will have to be to get us across the big oceans." "We may have to fly for five days and five nights to do that and it will be a challenge.” "But we have the next two months, as we fly the legs to China, to train and prepare ourselves."

The mission of this flight is to stop off at various locations around the globe, to rest and carry out maintenance and also to spread a campaigning message about clean technologies. This plane has a wingspan of 72m, which is wider than a 747 jumbo jet. And yet, it weighs only 2.3 tonnes. Its light weight will be critical to its success. The plane has 17,000 solar cells that line on the top of the wings and the energy-dense lithium-ion batteries will be used to sustain night-time flying.

Borschberg will use yoga for staying fresh. Piccard is using self-hypnosis techniques. "But my passion also will keep me going," said Piccard. "I had this dream 16 years ago of flying around the world without fuel, just on solar power. Now, we're about to do it. The passion is there and I look forward so much to being in the cockpit." 

By Premji