Photos: Soaring ambition for solar aircraft

On June 26, a prototype of the world's latest solar-powered airplane was unveiled at an airfield in Dubendorf, Switzerland, by company co-founders and future pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg.

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA is designed to fly both day and night without the need for fuel and without producing any pollution. The plane, which is scheduled to make its first flight later this year, was built to stay airborne for several days operating just on the power emitted by the sun and captured by its solar panels. The goal and challenge of the craft is to show the viability of renewable energy.

"If an aircraft is able to fly day and night without fuel, propelled solely by solar energy," says Piccard, "let no one come and claim that is impossible to do the same thing for motor vehicles, heating and air conditioning systems, and computers."