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During the first ascent on day one of the flight
from Nagoya
to
Hawaii, the battery
temperature increased due to a high climb rate
and an over insulation of the gondolas. And
while the Mission Team was monitoring this very
closely during the flight, there was no way to
decrease the temperature for the remaining
duration as each daily cycle requires an ascent
to 28’000 feet and descent for optimal energy
management.
Overall the airplane performed very well during
the flight. The damage to the batteries is not a
technical failure or a weakness in the
technology but rather an evaluation error in
terms of the profile of the mission and the
cooling design specifications of the batteries.
The temperature of the batteries in a quick
ascent / descent in tropical climates was not
properly anticipated.
Irreversible damage to certain parts of the
batteries will require repairs which will take
several months. In parallel, the Solar Impulse
engineering team will be studying various
options for better cooling and heating processes
for very long flights.
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