Solar Impulse 2 pilots Bertrand Piccard, right, and Andre Borschberg celebrate the world's first round-the-world flight to be powered solely by the sun's energy. Peter Klaunzer / Keystone via AP
Solar Impulse 2 pilots Bertrand Piccard, right, and Andre Borschberg celebrate the world's first round-the-world flight to be powered solely by the sun's energy. Peter Klaunzer / Keystone via AP
Solar Impulse 2 pilots Bertrand Piccard, right, and Andre Borschberg celebrate the world's first round-the-world flight to be powered solely by the sun's energy. Peter Klaunzer / Keystone via AP
Solar Impulse 2 pilots Bertrand Piccard, right, and Andre Borschberg celebrate the world's first round-the-world flight to be powered solely by the sun's energy. Peter Klaunzer / Keystone via AP

Opinion

Praise for a high-flying experiment

Sarah Khamis looks at how Arabic social media reacted to the Solar Impulse 2's completion of its global circumnavigation.

Sarah Khamis

July 27, 2016

  • English
  • Arabic

People from around the globe celebrated with pride this week the achievement of Solar Impulse 2, which flew around the world using pure, clean solar energy and not a single drop of fuel.

The UAE’s leadership joined in the praise, saying that Tuesday would go down as an important day in history.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, said it was time to think more about investing in clean energy.

Sheikh Saif bin Zayed remembered his father, the late Sheikh Zayed, and gave him credit for setting up the foundations that paved the way for the historic flight.

Other social-media users praised the Swiss pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, and noted that the journey by Solar Impulse 2 was proof that applying innovation, technology and a pioneering mindset could help address and overcome global challenges.

Sarah Khamis is The National's social media editor

skhamis@thenational.ae

On Twitter: @SarahKhamisUAE

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