Traveler, member of the Russian Geographical Society Fedor Konyukhov flew from Moscow to Crimea in an airplane with solar panels. This is a test flight, which is taking place in preparation for an air round-the-world expedition using solar energy. This was reported by the traveler’s son Oscar Konyukhov on Friday, July 5.
“Today at 6:14 Moscow time, Fedor Konyukhov, together with the president of the Federation of Russian Glider Sports Sergey Ryabchinsky, took off from the Severka airfield in the Moscow region. They are heading for Evpatoria", he said.
Oscar Konyukhov also noted that the crew will fly over Voronezh and Rostov-on-Don and land at the Tabasco airfield in Evpatoria. It is planned that the flight will take one light day.
The test journey is taking place on an unique flying machine named as "Flying Laboratory". It is equipped with flexible domestic solar modules and energy storage systems. During the flight, it is planned to check their work at different heights, at different angles to the sun and at different geographic latitudes. "Flying Laboratory" has impressive dimensions: with a weight of only 900 kilograms the wing span of the vessel reaches 25 meters. The aircraft is equipped with an automatic transfer of coordinates Iridium 360. The movement of the vessel can be watched online. Coordinates are updated every 10 minutes.
Successful technological solutions of the "Flying Laboratory" will be used in the construction of a record aircraft, on which Fedor Konyukhov is going to go on a single non-stop flight around the world on the energy of the Sun. The vessel is being developed as part of the Albatross project. His team expects to fly around the world without stopping and without recharging in seven days. The previous record in this area belongs to the crew of the Swiss aircraft Solar Impulse 2, which made a tour around the world in 500 days, making 19 stops. The journey of Fedor Konyukhov is scheduled for 2021.
Fedor Konyukhov is a Russian traveler. He made five voyages around the world, 17 times crossed the Atlantic and became the first Russian who has visited seven the highest peaks of six parts of the world, as well as the South and North Poles. In 2014, Fedor Konyukhov was awarded the Gold Medal of the RGS named after N.N.Miklouho-Maclay for the implementation of a single crossing across the Pacific Ocean on a rowboat from the coast of Chile to the coast of Australia along a unique route and numerous other outstanding trips in Russia and abroad.