A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said. The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane's website. Such a pleasure to land in New York! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability," said the project's co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The solar cr...
The Frenchman was one of the team who first spotted the rings in 1984, naming them Equality, Fraternity and Liberty after the motto of the French Republic. In a tribute, French President Francois Hollande said Brahic had known "how to easily explain the mysteries of space". Brahic, who was 73, was seen as a key figure in increasing public awareness of research into space.
He once said science "could make the eyes of small children light up". "He was a brilliant character: extraordinarily warm, profound and authentic, a great scholar and also a storyteller, a writer," his publisher and friend Odile Jacob said. His discovery of Neptune's rings, along with American astronomer William Hubbard, followed on from his interest in the rings of Saturn.
In his work with the Commission for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies in Paris and as a professor at the University of Paris, he helped carry out research into the solar system through Nasa and European unmanned missions.
In 1990, an asteroid numbered 3488 was named Brahic in tribute to his work.
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