HONOLULU—A team trying to fly a solar-powered plane around the world said Wednesday it is suspending the journey in Hawaii after the plane suffered battery damage during its record-breaking flight to the islands.
The Solar Impulse team said in a news release that it will continue the attempt to circumvent the globe, but irreversible damage caused by overheating batteries has grounded the flight until at least April.
The batteries aboard Solar Impulse 2 overheated on the first day of its trip from Japan to Hawaii, and there was no way to cool down the system, the team said. The company says there was no weakness with the technology, but the team didn’t anticipate temperature fluctuations associated with rapid altitude changes in a tropical climate.
