A Wright Brothers Moment

It was a Wright Brothers moment this week when an engineering team flew a solar-powered plane for 26 hours. At Physorg.com: Solar plane lands after completing 24-hour flight. The significance of this is that it proves that an airplane can store enough power to fly through the night. The solar plane isn’t powerful enough to carry passengers or cargo — that will require further leaps in design — but it’s worthwhile to remember that the early Wright Brothers planes couldn’t carry anything more than a pilot either.