Solar Impulse - Bring it on 2016!

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January’s back, which means you better get ready for the dreaded question: “What are your new year’s resolutions?” Don’t know about you, but our answer has been impatiently waiting since last July: “ finish the Round-the-World tour we started in March 2015!”

Our engineers and technicians are currently replacing the plane’s batteries in Hawaii, and #solarimpulse 2 should start to wake up at the end of February. And from then on? To make sure your don’t miss out on anything, and get access to exclusive content, all you need to do is click here. For the time being, here’s what we can tell you:

Main dates for 2016

• End of February: beginning of the test flights in Hawaii

• 20th of April: first possible takeoff for the second part of the Round-the-World Tour, depending on the weather conditions
• Sometime in the summer: landing in Abu Dhabi, where Si2 first took off from last year!

Where will the plane stop?

Last year, we had planned what cities we wanted to land in, but it wasn’t always easy to follow the initial route. We realised that the yearly weather patterns are less trustworthy than they used to be, and that conditions are increasingly unpredictable. We therefore decided to keep our options open for the second part of the adventure and choose where we will set foot as we go. Which leads us to the following roadmap:

• Takeoff: Honolulu, Hawaii
• First stop: Vancouver, Canada, or San Francisco, USA, or Los Angeles, USA, or Phoenix, USA
• Crossing of the United States by the North, middle, or South
• Landing in New York, USA
• Crossing of the Atlantic
• Landing somewhere between the UK, France, Spain or Morocco
• Probable stops in Greece, Egypt or Saudi Arabia
• Final landing: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

There will be a lot of improvisation along the way - that you’ll be able to follow live on our site! -  but that’s also what makes the experience so stimulating. Plus, we’ve got a good feeling about 2016!