Fantastic campaign above the Alps
Our Alpine summer flight campaign has come to a close without accomplishing our 10,000m objective. On September 18, SolarStratos left its summer base at Alpark, Sion Airport, to return home. Beyond the team’s inevitable frustration however, the immense amount of data and insights collected provide encouragement. HB-SXA is fully equipped to fly high, very high, and the team’s ambition of flying to the stratosphere powered solely by solar energy remains unchanged! The mission has all the tools in place to determine the best options that will make this iconic challenge a reality.
Des chiffres de cet été
The summer in numbers
Between July 18 and the return flight to Payerne, the team completed 10 flights, initially scheduled to make final adjustments, and then to attempt to reach higher than any other solar-powered plane before. Here’s the summary:
– 100th flight.
– Longest flight: 3h24m.
– Highest flight: 5,963m.
– A gallery of breathtaking photos and videos of flights over peaks, summits, and glaciers.
– Two flights over the Matterhorn, including this photo taken by Jean-Christophe Bott from the Keystone-SDA-ATS agency, and a flight over the Dent-Blanche and Verbier, where, on June 18, 2022, the first wingsuit jump from an electric and solar-powered plane was completed with Géraldine Fasnacht.
5,963 meters and then…
weather veto
On August 29, after charging its batteries to 75% and flying at over 4,000 metres, HB-SXA had to abandon the flight due to commercial aviation being rerouted through the airspace that had been reserved for SolarStratos by the Swiss Air Force. After this frustrating setback, on Friday, September 6, SolarStratos climbed smoothly to nearly 6,000 metres, its highest ever altitude. However, at 5,963 metres, high-altitude clouds and a lack of thermals put an end to the flight. After that with no favourable weather windows on the horizon and conditions quickly deteriorating to pre-winter mode with snow at mid-altitudes, it was time to head for home.
Unforgettable return flight
over the Alps
On September 18 at 16:00, HB-SXA returned to its home base in Payerne. As on the outbound journey, Raphaël Domjan flew over the Swiss Alps, sharing stunning shots of their extraordinary beauty. “We’ve learned a lot and are still as motivated as ever to go higher to demonstrate the incredible potential of solar energy in the fight against climate change,” said the pilot and founder of SolarStratos.
Thank you, Valais!
At the end of this Valais based campaign, the SolarStratos team would like to extend a big thank you to all the mission’s partners, sponsors, and friends for their trust and encouragement. Special thanks go to Sion Airport and Alpark for their warm welcome, as well as to the Swiss Air Force, Skyguide, and the Federal Office of Civil Aviation for their valuable assistance. Thank you, Valais!
