Save the dream

The realisation of Solar Impulse 2’s dream deserves our support – and requires cash.

The Solar Impulse team needs an additional Dh81 million to cover staff salaries, logistics and material needed to complete its round-the-world flight. EPA

Solar Impulse 2 is a project that makes us all proud. And now it needs our help. It is a pioneering example of perpetual endurance designed to take to the skies day and night powered by nothing but the sun. With such huge ambitions, there will naturally be challenges.

As The National reported yesterday, the Solar Impulse team needs an additional Dh81 million to cover staff salaries, logistics and material needed to complete its round-the-world flight. The flight, which departed from Abu Dhabi, was recently put on hold due to battery damage after its record-breaking leg across the Pacific Ocean. As it currently stands, Solar Impulse 2 will not return to the skies before next April.

That might seem like a huge amount of money, but given the ambition of the project this is not out of the ordinary. Solar Impulse is attempting something never before achieved.

If this project succeeds, it will open doors to more efficient solar panels and longer-lasting batteries. Reimagined flight was never going to be cheap.