The Solar Impulse 2 flying just on solar power.

Fueled purely by the sun, the Solar Impulse 2 has finished the second leg of its journey around the world, landing in Ahmedabad, India.

The Solar Impulse 2 has 17,000 solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity. The cells generate power for four electric motors and recharge a variety of lithium batteries.

The historic flight began in Abu Dhabi on Monday and was complete early Tuesday at Muscat, Oman. It took 15 hours on the second leg flying across the Arabian Sea and arriving Tuesday night in Ahmedabad.

The entire around the world trip consists of 11 stops and will take five months to complete. The total flight time is estimated to be roughly 25 days. Along the way, the Solar Impulse 2 is due to stop in Myanmar and China before landing in Hawaii, Phoenix, an unconfirmed city in the U.S. Midwest and New York City. The trip will end sometime in spring back in Abu Dhabi and should have a total of 12 stops.

The idea was dreamed up by two cofounders Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, and the two-man team are actually piloting the aircraft on its amazing journey. The solar plane has received lots of support from ground crew, air traffic controllers and the partner organization that helped launch and conceive the mission.

Piccard and André first came up with the idea of a round-the-world solar flight in 2003. After pitching it to Solvay, a Belgian chemical firm their dream started to suddenly take shape.

Solar companies are attempting to address the challenge of storing solar energy and using it around the clock.

The main input from Solvay was streamlining the design to achieve a lighter build and the second area was “energy capture, storage and optimization.”

So far, the solar Impulse 2 has been a success and the flight has been a tremendous step for renewable energy. Their website says “Our challenge is to attempt the first round-the-world solar flight … to demonstrate how pioneering spirit, innovation and clean technologies can change the world.”

The Solar Impulse 2

The most exciting thing about the technology is the aircraft’s ability to fly nonstop even in an evening by combining solar cells and batteries. It’s believed that this type of breakthrough which made the flight possible will have real-world applications in the not-too-distant future.