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The Solar Impulse 2 is set to cross the Atlantic, one of the toughest stages of its attempt to fly around the globe using solar energy.

Pilot Bertrand Piccard will attempt to reach Seville in Spain after about 90-hour flight from New York.

It is the first ever attempt to cross the Atlantic in a purely solar-powered aircraft.

Bertrand Piccard takes short naps while the plane is in flight.Solar Impulse lands in Phoenix

The Atlantic crossing will be “the longest distance we have had to fly this year,” the Solar Impulse team said.

The flight was supposed to begin on June 19 but was delayed by bad weather.

Bertrand Piccard, a psychiatrist, is sharing the 22,000 mile round-the-world journey with Swiss entrepreneur Andre Borschberg.

The Solar Impulse, which has the wingspan of a Boeing 747, is covered in 17,000 photovoltaic cells to capture the sun’s rays.

The aircraft landed at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on June 11 after a five-hour flight from Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania.

The record attempt began on March 9, 2015, in Abu Dhabi, and has taken the aircraft across Asia and the Pacific to the US.

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Solar Impulse has landed in Phoenix, Arizona, after ending the first leg across the continental United States in its attempt to fly around the world.

It the zero-fuel aeroplane left Mountain View, California, at dawn on May 2 and landed 16 hours later in Goodyear, a suburb of Phoenix.

Solar Impulse was the 10th leg of its round the world quest.

Andre Borschberg was at the controls, having taken over from Bertrand Piccard.

Bertrand Piccard flew Solar Impulse to the West Coast of the US from Hawaii just over a week ago.Solar Impulse lands in Phoenix

The latest stint was relatively short – 1,113 kilometers.

Solar Impulse’s take-off from the famous Moffett Airfield occurred at 05:03 PDT on May 2 and the plane landed in Phoenix at 20:55 PDT.

The team has traversed America before, in 2013. That crossing was undertaken in the prototype predecessor to the current aircraft.

Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg are aiming to get to New York by the start of June, to begin preparations for the big Atlantic crossing.

Solar Impulse started its circumnavigation of the globe in March of last year in Abu Dhabi.

The solar-powered plane flew over Oman, India, Myanmar and China before flying to Japan, from where it made a 5,545-mile passage to Hawaii.

That five-day and five-night journey set a record for the longest duration, non-stop, solo aeroplane flight.

It also resulted in damage to the plane’s batteries, forcing the team into some lengthy repairs.

Only when the days started stretching out again in the Northern Hemisphere could the team think about getting back in the air.

With 17,000 photovoltaic cells on its top surfaces, Solar Impulse gets all its energy from the sun.

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Solar Impulse has landed in California after a three-day flight over the Pacific Ocean.

High winds delayed the solar-powered plane’s landing at Moffett Airfield, Mountain View, as pilot Bertrand Piccard flew in a holding pattern off the coast.

Solar Impulse left Hawaii on April 21, after eight months of repairs following battery damage on a flight from Japan.

This is the ninth leg of Solar Impulse’s attempt to fly round the world.

Solar Impulse started its journey last March in Abu Dhabi. The trip has involved two different pilots flying separate legs.

The plane gets all its energy from the sun, and has 17,000 photovoltaic cells on its top surfaces.

These power Solar Impulse’s propellers during the day but also charge batteries that the vehicle’s motors can then call on during the night.

The distance on this leg was 2,200 nautical miles.

Starting in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in March, Solar Impulse crossed Oman, India, Myanmar, and China.Solar Impulse 2 solo flight record

The plane then flew to Japan, before undertaking a 8,924km passage to Hawaii. That five-day, five-night crossing set a record for the longest ever non-stop solo plane journey.

However, Solar Impulse’s batteries overheated during the trip, forcing the project to stop on the Pacific archipelago while repairs were conducted.

A further 20 million euros ($23 million) had to be raised from supporters during the winter to keep the project going for another year.

Bertrand Piccard shares flying duties with his business partner, Andre Borschberg.

It was Andre Borschberg who flew into Kalaeloa in July 2015, and he will take the controls on the next leg across the US mainland.

Bertrand Piccard and Ande Borschberg’s intention is to reach New York by the start of June, to begin preparations for an Atlantic crossing.

Assuming this is completed successfully, it should then be a relatively straightforward run back to the “finish line” in Abu Dhabi.

Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg have been working on the Solar Impulse project for more than a decade.

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Solar Impulse 2’s 35,000km journey around the world is set to get under way on Monday, March 9.

The solar-powered plane will take off from Abu Dhabi and head east, first to Oman, and then to India.

Over the next five months, Solar Impulse 2 will skip from continent to continent, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the process.

Swiss adventurers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg will share the pilot duties in the single-seater vehicle.

They will stop off at various locations to rest and to carry out maintenance, and also to spread a campaigning message about clean technologies.

Andre Borschberg will start the journey with a takeoff from the Emirate’s international airport at about 06:30 local time.

The project has already set a number of world records for solar-powered flight, including making a high-profile transit of the US in 2013.

The round-the-world venture is altogether more dramatic and daunting, and has required the construction of an even bigger plane than the prototype, Solar Impulse-1.Solar Impulse 2 round the world journey 2015

This new model has a wingspan of 72m, which is wider than a 747 jumbo jet. And yet, it weighs only 2.3 tonnes.

Its light weight will be critical to its success.

Solar Impulse 2 has 17,000 solar cells that line the top of the wings, and the energy-dense lithium-ion batteries will use to sustain night-time flying.

Operating through darkness will be particularly important when the men have to cross the Pacific and the Atlantic.

The slow speed of their prop-driven plane means these legs will take several days and nights of non-stop flying to complete.

Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg – whoever is at the controls – will have to stay alert for nearly all of the time they are airborne.

They will be permitted only catnaps of up to 20 minutes – in the same way a single-handed, round-the-world yachtsman would catch small periods of sleep.

They will also have to endure the physical discomfort of being confined in a cockpit that measures just 3.8 cubic meters in volume – not a lot bigger than a public telephone box.

Flight simulators have helped the pilots to prepare, and each man has developed his own regimen to cope.

Andre Borschberg will use yoga to try to stay fresh. Bertrand Piccard is using self-hypnosis techniques.

The support team is well drilled. While the mission will be run out of a control room in Monaco, a group of engineers will follow the plane around the globe. They have a mobile hangar to house the plane when it is not in the air.

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