Solar Impulse crossed the Atlantic

June 23rd 2016 is a historic day: Solar Impulse just landed on the European soil in ‪#‎Sevilla‬ after a 70 hours flight from ‪#‎NewYork‬. Stratospheric congratulations to Bertrand Piccard, André Borschberg and their team for this magnificient solar achievement! ‪#‎futureisclean‬ ‪#‎AtlanticCrossing‬

Family portrait with our Moscow friends from ‪#‎Zvezda preparing with great commitment Raphaël‘s future ‪#‎spacesuit. More information on ‪#‎SolarStratos in a single click.

After 2 years of loyal service, the SolarStratos website came under a digital scalpel and completely changed its design. The objective was to give a new user experience, both in terms of navigation and aesthetics. Particular attention was paid to the highlighting of the SolarStratos Club because SolarStratos is not the work of a small group of crazy adventurers but the eco-exploration of everyone! We hope you will enjoy (re-)discovering our mission through this new digital design.

Also, in order to mark the occasion of the redesign of the website, we are launching at the same time our teaser! This is a short video that aims to inspire web users, like Hollywood movie trailers. The incredible pictures and sound design, created by our partners Creatorz Deitz and Wavestudios, will make you travel to the edge of space!

The video is posted on our Facebook page with a contest to earn some visits of the solar airplane with the team. Participation is simple. Just “like” the page. Do not wait any longer and try your hand! The draw among all the likes of the page will be held on June 30 at noon.

Good surfing and thank you for your unfailing support! Do not hesitate to massively share our teaser and all good luck for the contest!

Raphael and the SolarStratos Team

It is an information that we wanted to share for a long time : we managed our first flight into the stratosphere! Saturday, May 7 at 9:45 am, the nacelle of our friends from Swiss Strato has taken off from Châtel-St-Denis with special passengers on board: two photovoltaic cells, a glass of white wine from Neuchâtel and … the famous cow Happy Lilly, Swiss ambassador and muse of Présence Suisse. After about 2 hours of ascension, the Swiss symbols have peaked at around 35’500 meters before the balloon exploded. Less than an hour later, thanks to the GPS installed in the nacelle, we were able to retrieve its content and experience the journey … My friends, what amazing images! And what exciting data for the scientists of the CSEM, our scientific partner, and our eco-exploration!

More down to earth but equally important for us, the Lausanne digital communication agency Breew joined our adventure as an Official Supplier. With the expertise of the boss, Thierry Weber, and his team, we will gain altitude on Mark Zuckerberg’s network and the Twittosphere! Thank you and welcome aboard SolarStratos, Breew!

See you in June for more adventures. Our little fingers tell us that two other launches will take place. Here are two clues: “web” and “synthesis”.

Thank you again for your support and feel free to share our adventures on social networks!

Raphael and the SolarStratos team

On Saturday 7 May 2016, between 9:45 and 12:00, from Châtel-St-Denis, we flew their first stratospheric mission, which consisted of sending a balloon equipped with two photovoltaic cells and cameras to an altitude of more than 35,000 metres, as well as a glass of wine and the Swiss ambassador Happy Lilly. The aim of the mission was to test the effects of the very high altitude on the solar cells of the future SolarStratos aircraft and to take pictures of Switzerland from the stratosphere.

It was 9.45 a.m. on Saturday, 7 May 2016, when we released a stratospheric balloon equipped with cameras to carry out various experiments. An hour and a half later, the balloon had risen to an altitude of over 35,000 metres and landed at around 12 noon with all the data from the flight. A successful first stratospheric mission for SolarStratos!

Here are the first impressions of Happy Lilly, pilot of the gondola: “I am resting after my first stratospheric flight. I am very happy to have contributed to these experiences and I am looking forward to my next flight on board SolarStratos, this time I will be accompanied by Raphaël.”

This flight will provide a better understanding of the behaviour of photovoltaic cells when they are subjected to extreme temperature differences and cosmic rays at high altitudes. These cells will be used to equip the future SolarStratos aircraft, the first stratospheric solar aircraft. This solar plane will climb to an altitude of more than 25,000 metres with the eco-explorer Raphaël Domjan at the controls.

This first stratospheric experiment, carried out in partnership with Swiss Strato and the CSEM, also enabled exceptional views of Switzerland and its snow-capped peaks to be taken from the stratosphere.

What a dynamic atmosphere at our partner PC-Aero in Germany! 3 screens have been mounted on the SolarStratos simulator, whose construction is coming to an end. We look forward to our future test flights with this technological gem!

A propos tests on the simulator, we were relieved to see that the test-spacesuit received from our Russian friends at Zvezda entered the cockpit as we did not know its exact dimensions (when pressurized) during the design of our plane. Raphael felt very well in his comfortable armor. While freedom of movement is not optimal yet, we are confident that we will succeed in creating an ideal spacesuit for our flights in the stratosphere.

See you in May for the rest of our adventures! Something tells us that two launches will occure. Here are two clues: “web” and “synthesis”. Follow us for more info!

Thank you for your support and share our eco-adventure without moderation!
Raphael and the SolarStratos team

Как поживаетеi ¹ ? We hope you had a good Easter weekend and you enjoy the beginning of Spring, marking the renewal of life. Regarding SolarStratos, days are passing and are not alike. This has happened things during this March!

The most exciting moment was our trip to Moscow with Michael Lopez-Alegria, our flight director, Thierry Plojoux and Roland Loss, two new members of our team. I was able to test there the spacesuit and already project a little bit in the stratosphere. Thanks to Zvezda for their trust and their hospitality! This trip is an important step in the history of SolarStratos.

¹ «How are you doing», in russian

A few weeks ago, with our partner the Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), we visited our other partner, PC-Aero, in Munich. During this Bavarian stay, we worked on the design of the photovoltaic cells. It’s great to see two partners work together for the same purpose, around our project. Thanks to them !

Finally, we welcome aboard two new partners: the DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt), the German Space Agency, and Carbon and Wacker. The agency will support us on issues related to flights at very high altitudes. As for Carbon Wacker, the company specialized in the production of carbon components becomes one of our Official Suppliers. Thanks to both of them for their support!

See you in a month for the rest of our adventures!

Solar greetings,
Raphael and the SolarStratos Team

SolarStratos was in Moscow this week with Russian spacesuits experts at Zvezda. It was amazing to wear this impressive “space armor”. Our Flights Director, Michael Lopez Alegria, was with us too! We brought you these incredible images!

Dear Partners, Dear Friends,

Late David Bowie sang „Starman“ for the first time in 1972. 44 years later, the song continues to resonate around the world, but with particular taste and sound. The author left our world to join the stars on January 10, 2016. Barely a month later, on February 4, our dear godfather Edgar Mitchell also bowed out. “This is Major Mitchell to Ground Control, the stars look very different today.” We are sad, but also happy and honored to have been able to cross the path of this great man, this lunar walker. We wanted to start this newsletter by giving him this tribute. Thank you, Edgar, for your support, now eternal. You will always be with us, whether on land or in the stratosphere.

This news somewhat messed us, but life goes on and the adventure of SolarStratos too.
We can tell you that searches for the future hangar of the aircraft SolarStratos are going well. We look forward to soon announcing where the “home-base” of the HB-SXA will be located!

Again thank you for your support and do not hesitate to forward our news to your loved ones!

See you soon for the rest of our solar-stratospheric adventures!
Raphaël and the SolarStratos Team

Dear Partners, Dear Friends,

The year started well for SolarStratos and promises lots of news to share with you! To retain this January: our first altitude flight with an Eco-Light along with Pierrick Duvoisin from CSEM at over 7,000 meters altitude. This flight was a success to the extent that we could test the dynamic effect on the solar cells developed by our partner CSEM.

This first step will help to develop a model for calculating the evolution of the solar cell temperatures in the stratosphere. The next step is to get closer to space at more than 130,000 feet (approx. 40,000 meters) with a balloon this time! The images will definitely be amazing!

Regarding the aircraft construction, I am pleased to inform you that the fuselage is complete. The time is now to develop the wings.

Keep on following our adventures and thank you for your support!

Raphael and the SolarStratos Team