Leverkusen, November 21, 2012 – Swiss aviation pioneer Bertrand Piccard is banking on innovations from Bayer for his planned around-the-world flight without any fuel. Speaking Wednesday at the opening of a special exhibit on the Solar Impulse project at Bayer in Leverkusen, Piccard said that products and solutions from the company are crucial for the project’s success. The aircraft, which is expected to complete its unprecedented mission in 2015 powered solely with solar energy, is currently under construction. Materials from Bayer serve primarily to make the aircraft as light as possible.

“We are primarily interested in demonstrating how innovation and clean technologies can contribute to reduce our society’s dependence to fossil energy,” said Piccard who implements the project together with the co-founder André Borschberg. Piccard pointed out the successful missions flown by the prototype HB-SIA, most recently from Switzerland to North Africa and back.

A model of this first aircraft is among the items on display at Bayer’s BayKomm Communications Center. Visitors can also get an idea of the capabilities of a new insulating material developed by Bayer that will be used in the crucial second aircraft.

“Our company has particular expertise in the field of energy and resource efficiency, one of the key issues of this century,” said Dr. Richard Pott of the Bayer AG Board of Management. “We are pleased that we are able to contribute to the success of this fascinating project.” Bayer and Solar Impulse recently expanded their collaboration. “The Bayer Cross will be displayed on the aircraft in the future as a visible symbol of this fruitful partnership,” said Pott.

Dr. Tony Van Osselaer, member of the Board of Management of the Bayer MaterialScience subgroup, added that the company is not just providing materials and solutions for the second, improved model of the aircraft, but also has system leadership for the complete design of the cockpit housing.

In addition, the innovative polyurethane foam Baytherm Microcell® will be used as insulation in places. It offers significantly greater insulating performance than the current standard. Highly efficient insulation is particularly important for the aircraft because it must withstand temperature fluctuations between minus 40 and plus 60 degrees Celsius. Another innovation announced by Van Osselaer was the use of carbon nanotubes (Baytubes®) in structural components. This will enable additional material and weight savings to be achieved for the aircraft, which has the wingspan of an Airbus.

Piccard said that the first manned around-the-world flight without fuel is expected to take 20 flight days, five or six of which just to cross the Pacific and two to three for the Atlantic crossing. Including the necessary breaks, the solar-powered aircraft’s journey from west to east will take a total of three to four months.

The exhibit at BayKomm runs through November 25 and is open Monday - Saturday from noon to 6:00 p.m. and from noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is free.

About Bayer MaterialScience:
With 2011 sales of EUR 10.8 billion, Bayer MaterialScience is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction and the sports and leisure industries. At the end of 2011, Bayer MaterialScience had 30 production sites and employed approximately 14,800 people around the globe. Bayer MaterialScience is a Bayer Group company.

About Solar Impulse:
Solar Impulse HB-SIA, the first aircraft that can fly day and night without fuel and with no harmful emissions, demonstrates the tremendous potential of new technologies in the field of energy efficiency and the generation of renewable energy. The 70-member team and its 80 partners have already put in seven years of intensive work with countless computations, simulations and tests to complete this revolutionary aircraft made of carbon fiber materials. Never before has an aircraft so large been so light-weight: It has the wingspan of an Airbus A340 (63.4 meters) and the weight of a mid-size car (1,600 kg). Some 12,000 solar cells cover the surface of the wings. They provide renewable energy to the four electric motors, each of which generates a maximum of 10 horsepower, and charge the lithium-polymer batteries (400 kg) during the day so that the aircraft can continue to fly at night. Among the supporters of the Solar Impulse project are its main partners Solvay, Omega, Deutsche Bank and Schindler; official partners Bayer MaterialScience, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and Altran; official scientific advisor EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne); and aeronautics advisor Dassault Aviation.

Find more information at www.materialscience.bayer.com.

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