BY BOB HOLT

NEWJESEYNEWSROOM.COM

Possibly the most advanced airplane in the United States that is operated strictly by solar power is preparing for a flight across the country, weather permitting.

Solar Impulse will be taking off from NASA Ames Research Center in California on May 1, and plans to get to Kennedy Airport in New York in early July.

The plane is powered by about 12,000 photovoltaic cells that charge its batteries, and is able to fly day and night without the use of fuel. Solar Impulse pilot and CEO André Borschberg said, according to an Associated Press report in The Washington Post, “We want to inspire the young generation to become pioneers, to help them find and develop their passion.”

Those cells are built into the plane’s 193-foot wings, and it is powered by four electric motors. It only weighs 3,500 pounds, less than most automobiles. Universe Today reports that the Solar Impulse will be making stops on their U. S. tour at Phoenix, Dallas, Washington, and either Atlanta, Nashville or St. Louis before arriving in New York.

The Solar Impulse flew non-stop for 26 hours in 2010 to prove its ability to fly overnight, and went 1,550 miles from Madrid to Morocco in 20 hours last year, according to The Guardian.

Borschberg and co-pilot Bertrand Piccard have been working on the Solar Impulse for 10 years. They ultimately want their plane to fly around the world, but the Solar Impulse is not currently prepared to do so. "You have no time to do maintenance and no possibility to change parts," Borschberg said, according to CBS News.

Piccard traveled around the world in a hot air balloon in 1999. “Our airplane is not designed to carry passengers, but to carry a message, he said, according to the Solar Impulse website.