Looking only at Bertrand Piccard’s recent family history, it’s unsurprising that the Swiss-born psychiatrist, aeronaut and academic has set out on yet another world record-breaking attempt, this time to traverse the globe in a solar-powered aircraft. This is a man whose father, and his father before that, left an indelible mark on the world of exploration. For three generations the Piccard family has succeeded in accomplishing feats that many at the time considered to be impossible. Auguste Piccard famously said that “exploration is sport for scientists” – and whether a pioneer of modern aviation, an ambassador of environmental protection or a record-breaking explorer, each member of the Piccard family has lived their life by this ethos.
Solar Impulse
The latest of Bertrand Piccard’s endeavours took flight in March, when he and his partner – CEO, co-pilot and co-founder of the Solar Impulse project, André Borschberg – embarked on Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) in a bid to become the first people to pilot a solar-powered craft around the world. “Just imagine your energy reserves increasing during flight”, said Borschberg, speaking on the difficulty of the task. “To make this dream a reality, we had to make maximum use of every single watt supplied by the sun, and store it in our batteries. We tracked down every possible source of energy efficiency. By tapping into each team member’s experience and using the combined potential of them all, we managed to find the solutions.”
For three generations the Piccard family has succeeded in accomplishing feats that many considered to be impossible
Measuring 72 metres across, giving it a wingspan greater even than that of a Boeing 747, Si2 weighs in at only 2,300kg and is powered by 17,000 solar cells and 633kg of lithium batteries, which allow the craft to travel at night. Following in the footsteps of great aeronautical firsts, Si2 – after 12 years of research, testing and development – took off from Abu Dhabi on March 9 2015, embarking on the first ever round-the-world trip in a plane powered not by fuel, but by solar energy and the technologies of tomorrow.
Disproving the naysayers
Si2 first dispelled a number of myths about the impracticality of solar flight when the craft successfully flew five consecutive days and nights without a drop of fuel – and, in doing so, paved a first vital stone on the route away from fossil fuels and toward renewables in aviation. However, the aim of the project is not necessarily to revolutionise the aviation industry by any significant degrees, but to demonstrate that alternative energy sources harbour the potential to achieve what many consider impossible. By completing the around-the-world journey, Piccard and those at Solar Impulse hope to raise awareness about the viability of alternative energy sources, and prove that renewable technologies are capable of carrying people across oceans.
“By writing the next pages in aviation history with solar energy, and voyaging around the world without fuel or pollution, Solar Impulse’s ambition is for the world of exploration and innovation to contribute to the cause of renewable energies, to demonstrate the importance of clean technologies for sustainable development; and to place dreams and emotions back at the heart of scientific adventure”, sources from Solar Impulse said of the mission.
Much has been made of Switzerland as the country to give rise to the Solar Impulse project, especially given that the programme would not be where it is today were it not for the entrepreneurial and pioneering spirit of the Swiss people. There is a certain parallel to be drawn between the population » and the Solar Impulse project: blessed with little-to-no natural resources, Switzerland has counted on innovation and clean technology for its success, and the role of Piccard’s native country in inspiring the project from start to finish should not be underestimated.
Picture of Piccard
The Si2 project sheds some light on key aspects of Piccard’s character, but is in no way representative of the man’s achievements as a whole. And while the solar flight is arguably the best known of Piccard’s endeavours thus far, past years have seen the Swiss adventurer take on many major challenges that were similarly impressive in scope.
According to Piccard, the next generation of adventurers will seek not to discover and conquer unknown territories, but to realise humanitarian and medical goals: “Adventure is not necessarily a spectacular deed, but rather an extraordinary one, meaning something that pushes us outside our normal way of thinking and behaving”, he says. “Something that forces us to leave the protective shell of our certainties, within which we act and react automatically. Adventure is a state of mind in the face of the unknown; a way of conceiving our existence as an experimental field, in which we have to develop our inner resources, climb our personal path of evolution and assimilate the ethical and moral values that we need to accompany our voyage.”
Born in 1958 to a family of explorers, Piccard first pursued a career as a doctor and psychiatrist, completing a double specialisation in psychiatry and psychotherapy. Decorated by the Lausanne Faculty of Medicine for his doctoral thesis, Ordeal, a Learning Experience, Piccard later became a teacher and supervisor at the Swiss Medical Hypnosis Society. He ultimately succumbed to his hunger for adventure, however, and is today best known as an explorer.
Starting out as a pioneer of ultra-light flying in the 1970s, Piccard was named the hang-glider aerobatics champion of Europe in 1985 and later went on to obtain licenses to fly balloons, airplanes and motor-gliders. Winning the inaugural transatlantic balloon race in 1992, the Swiss-born adventurer soon after set out on the Breitling orbiter project, where he would become the first person, along with his partner Brian Jones, to complete a non-stop around-the-world flight in a hot air balloon.
Flying for human rights
The Breitling project succeeded in forcing the Piccard name once again into the limelight. Piccard was subsequently honoured for his achievements; being awarded accolades that included the highest distinctions of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the National Geographic Society and the Explorers Club. However, what was even more revealing about the voyage was the scope of Piccard’s concerns, which were far from contained to exploration and extended, above all, to the fight against poverty.
Picking up on the achievements of past generations and capitalising on his newfound fame, Piccard founded the Winds of Hope Foundation, with the goal of rescuing children who are victims of disease, disasters and conflict. Together with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the organisation’s primary objective is to eliminate noma (a gangrenous infection of the face) by implementing preventative programmes, gathering together those in the fight against it, and ultimately publicising and mobilising international action.
By focusing first on human values in his approach to adventure, Piccard is in many ways a pioneer of responsible business practices and human rights issues. As such, he was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the UN’s Population Fund (UNFPA) and a Champion of the Earth in 2012. Piccard is also active on the public speaking circuit and has been since 1992, where, according to sources at Solar Impulse, he uses his past endeavours as a metaphor for life.
Speaking about his latest project, Piccard says: “Solar Impulse was not built to carry passengers, but to carry messages. We want to demonstrate the importance of the pioneering spirit, to encourage people to question what they’ve always taken for granted. The world needs to find new ways of improving the quality of human life. Clean technologies and renewable forms of energy are part of the solution.”
