We chatted a bit in April about the Solar Impulse 2 and how it was going to fly around the world using no fuel at all, only sweet, sweet sunshine (it’s a solar-powered plane, BTW…).

I’ll bet by now you are wanting an update on how Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, two of the founders of the Solar Impulse project, are doing with their mission, so here it is:

According to Borschberg, they might not be able to complete the journey this year.

Over the last couple of weeks, the Solar Impulse has been grounded in Japan awaiting a clear weather window for its next leg to Hawaii.

There’s just not enough sunshine!

Speaking to CNN, Borschberg has said that there are still chances they can make it, but that there are also risks that they won’t make it in time. They had a plan, you see:

The Solar Impulse team says they scheduled the journey, which began in Abu Dhabi in March and was meant to end by July, to maximize the amount of daylight.

There’s going to be a “cut-off point” though, when winter descends on the Northern Hemisphere and there will no longer be enough sunlight. The Planes wings and fuselage are covered with more than 17,000 solar cells which “gather the sun’s rays during the day allows the Solar Impulse to fly continuously through the night on battery power”.

Sadly the plane was grounded for more than two months  in China because of bad weather and that really ate into their margin of time.

Let’s wish them luck – surely if they re-route through sunny California..?

[Source: CNN]