Solar plane to take off for Spain on Tuesday

An experimental solar-powered plane, flying without using any fuel, will leave the Moroccan capital on Tuesday for Madrid on its return journey to its home port in Switzerland, organisers said.

The Swiss-made Solar Impulse will take off at 0800 GMT on Tuesday from the Rabat-Sale airport and is due to land in Madrid's Barajas airport after midnight on Wednesday on its way home, organisers said Monday.

Solar Impulse arrived late on Friday in Rabat on a return journey to Switzerland after its successful flight over the Moroccan desert.

The giant high-tech aircraft, which has the wingspan of a jumbo jet but weighs no more than a medium-sized car, is fitted with 12,000 solar cells feeding four electric motors driving propellors.

Last month, the solar-powered plane made the 2,500-kilometre (1,550-mile) journey from Madrid to Rabat, its longest to date and its first between continents, after an inaugural flight to Paris and Brussels last year.

The flights are intended as a rehearsal for the goal of a round-the-world trip in 2014 by an updated version of the plane.

(c) 2012 AFP