According to EU calculations, international air traffic is one of the sectors with the highest increase in emissions, which contributes negatively to climate change. Today, airplanes are powered by fossil fuels. For around forty years, research has been carried out into alternatives using solar energy. Solar airplanes obtain their energy exclusively from solar radiation. There are special solar cells on the wings of the aircraft. These absorb the sun's rays and turn them into electricity. This is used to power an electric motor without producing any harmful exhaust fumes. The higher these airplanes climb, the better they can use the sun's rays because there are no interfering factors such as clouds.
What to do in bad weather during the flight? The aircraft has a built-in battery for hours when there is little sunlight. This means it can also fly through a rain shower.
What solar airplanes are used for
- Surveillance and support flights for border surveillance
- in the event of natural disasters
- for military operations
- to monitor our environment
- for the transmission of messages
- for research purposes
- Unmanned solar-powered aircraft as a cheaper supplement for satellites stationed at low altitude
No solar-powered passenger aircraft
The use of solar-powered commercial aircraft that can fly at any time of the year and day with a high number of passengers and at a reasonable cruising speed is extremely uncertain. One of the reasons for this is that there is not enough free space on a commercial aircraft for sufficient solar cells and the weight of the batteries required for this is (still) too high for the aircraft to take off.
First flying experiences
There have already been several attempts to fly solar-powered aircraft. In 2016, the Solar Impulse 2 circumnavigated the globe without using a single drop of fuel. It covered around 43,000 kilometers in 550 hours and made 17 stopovers. However, bad weather prevented the flight from continuing several times.
Welcome to Saving energy at school. Here you will find detailed information on the topics from our Metaverse room.
The Metaverse room consists of 7 rooms:
- Entrance
- Energy
- Energy saving
- Future
- Auditorium
- Cinema
- Tasks
In the rooms you will find various articles that you can open on the Internet by clicking on "View".
Start your puzzle rally in the task room. You can also download the game instructions here.
Travel through three different levels and solve all the tasks. Each answer has a code number that you need to unlock the final quiz. Enter all the code numbers in your game instructions!
Once you have completed all the tasks, travel through the final quiz portal in the task room and enter your solution password there to check whether you have solved all the tasks correctly.
Your certificate is waiting for you! Have fun!
