“Thanks to our lovely #sun, #Si2’s batteries are fully charged,” the Solar Impulse team said on Twitter. “After a turbulent night from extreme high temperatures, the sun rose above a desert of sand dunes above #SaudiArabia,” Mr. Piccard tweeted earlier. Dubbed the “paper plane,” the Solar Impulse 2 is circumnavigating the globe in stages, with 58-year-old Piccard and his compatriot Andre Borschberg taking turns at the controls of the single-seat aircraft. By 1300 GMT on Monday, Solar Impulse 2 had travelled more than 2,200 km in nearly 38 hours on its final leg, flying over Qatar’s northern tip after crossing the vast Saudi desert. The plane has clocked an average speed of 80 km per hour.

Source: The Hindu July 25, 2016 17:03 UTC