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I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got ... fossil fuels

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Shanta Barley | 11:34 UK time, Friday, 26 June 2009

Stratospheric swashbuckler Bertrand Piccard reveals today the prototype of a sun-powered plane that he hopes will allow humans to , long after the sun has set and fossil fuels have run out, according to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News.

More petrel than petrol, Piccard's plane runs on zero-carbon sunlight. (Conventional aircraft burn , according to the Encyclopedia of Energy and Engineering, and represent a growing source of emissions.)

The is not the first of its kind (take MacCready's Gossamer Penguin), but if Piccard's dream takes off, he may become the first human to fly a sun-powered plane at night.

Weighing no more than a car, the plane is peppered with enough solar cells (11, 628 to be precise), batteries, motors and propellors to keep it aloft after darkness falls.

No point trying to book a seat yet, however: right now, the HB-SIA can only seat one person, and even then it needs a wingspan of 60-80m, according to the project's website.

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