Swiss adventurer Raphael Domjan poses with the solar-powered plane SolarStratos and flight suit at the airbase in Payerne, Switzerland on December 7, 2016.
Keystone
What’s it like to fly in the icy stratosphere, 25,000 metres above Earth? Swiss eco-adventurer Raphael Domjan hopes to find out soon aboard the SolarStratos plane.
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I am a climate and science/technology reporter. I am interested in the effects of climate change on everyday life and scientific solutions.
Born in London, I am a dual citizen of Switzerland and the UK. After studying modern languages and translation, I trained as a journalist and joined swissinfo.ch in 2006. My working languages are English, German, French and Spanish.
On Friday, his experimental stratospheric solar plane successfully completed its first test flight in Payerne in western Switzerland.
Test flights are set to continue over the coming weeks and months, slowly venturing up to higher altitudes. By the end of next year, the Swiss adventurer and project leader hopes to fly the solar plane up into the stratosphere to 25,000 m above the Earth – three times the height of Mount Everest – which would represent a historical first for a solar plane fitted with electric engines.
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Swiss adventurer Raphaël Domjan has unveiled a two-seater solar aircraft with which he hopes to become the first pilot to fly in the stratosophere.
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The “PlanetSolar” catamaran toured across the US, the Panama Canal, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Persian Gulf.
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