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Newsletter SolarStratos n°4, february 2016

Newsletter SolarStratos n°4, february 2016

Dear Partners, Dear Friends,

Late David Bowie sang „Starman“ for the first time in 1972. 44 years later, the song continues to resonate around the world, but with particular taste and sound. The author left our world to join the stars on January 10, 2016. Barely a month later, on February 4, our dear godfather Edgar Mitchell also bowed out. “This is Major Mitchell to Ground Control, the stars look very different today.” We are sad, but also happy and honored to have been able to cross the path of this great man, this lunar walker. We wanted to start this newsletter by giving him this tribute. Thank you, Edgar, for your support, now eternal. You will always be with us, whether on land or in the stratosphere.

This news somewhat messed us, but life goes on and the adventure of SolarStratos too.
We can tell you that searches for the future hangar of the aircraft SolarStratos are going well. We look forward to soon announcing where the “home-base” of the HB-SXA will be located!

Again thank you for your support and do not hesitate to forward our news to your loved ones!

See you soon for the rest of our solar-stratospheric adventures!
Raphaël and the SolarStratos Team

Dear Partners, Dear Friends,

The year started well for SolarStratos and promises lots of news to share with you! To retain this January: our first altitude flight with an Eco-Light along with Pierrick Duvoisin from CSEM at over 7,000 meters altitude. This flight was a success to the extent that we could test the dynamic effect on the solar cells developed by our partner CSEM.

This first step will help to develop a model for calculating the evolution of the solar cell temperatures in the stratosphere. The next step is to get closer to space at more than 130,000 feet (approx. 40,000 meters) with a balloon this time! The images will definitely be amazing!

Regarding the aircraft construction, I am pleased to inform you that the fuselage is complete. The time is now to develop the wings.

Keep on following our adventures and thank you for your support!

Raphael and the SolarStratos Team

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of our Friend and Godfather, Dr. Edgar Dean Mitchell. Born on 17 September 1930 in Texas, Edgar joined NASA in 1966 as an astronaut. With the Apollo 14 mission, he became the sixth man to set foot on the moon (5-6 February 1971). Edgar Mitchell became our Patron in 2014 and wished us “a safe journey to the stars”. Edgar left us on 4 February to join them. Bon voyage, dear Friend.