In an attempt to fly around the world in a plane sans fuel, a single-seater experimental solar aircraft took off from Muscat on Monday to Ahmedabad.

Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard would take turns to pilot the Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) flight.

The aircraft is expected to reach Ahmedabad on Tuesday, if weather conditions are favourable. The plane would stay there for four days, before leaving for Varanasi and then Myanmar. Several events are planned on the theme of renewable energy and sustainable development during the aircraft’s stopover in Ahmedabad, according to a press note.

The Swiss Federal Government is supporting Si, an idea born in Switzerland. Capable of flying over oceans for several days and nights at a stretch, Si would attempt to go around the world in 12 legs. The entire journey would take roughly five months. Si2 would cover the Arabian Sea, India, Myanmar, China and the Pacific Ocean. Aftercrossing the Atlantic Ocean, the final leg would see a stopover in Southern Europe or North Africa, before completing the round-the-world flight at its final destination in Abu Dhabi, the official host city of Solar Impulse.

During the 12 scheduled stops, the Si team and its partners would organise public events for governments, schools and universities. “We are very ambitious in our goal, but modest given the magnitude of the challenge. This is an attempt, and only time will tell if we can overcome the numerous weather, technical, human and administrative issues”, said Piccard and Borschberg.

Solar Impulse is an airborne laboratory, genuinely made from technological solutions developed by a multidisciplinary team of 80 specialists and more than a hundred partners and consultants.

Si2 is the largest aircraft ever built with such a low weight, equivalent to that of a small car. With a wing covered by more than 17,000 solar cells, the plane could fly up to an altitude of 8,500 m at speeds ranging from 50 to 100 kmph.

The two pilots would have to demonstrate extraordinary endurance under extreme conditions -- living in a tiny non-pressurised cockpit, unheated, with external temperatures ranging from -40 to +40 degrees Celsius.