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Why deal with gas prices at the pump when you can just take your fuel from the Sun? That's the idea in the World Solar Challenge, where teams from around the world compete in a race across Australia with Sun-powered vehicles.
Seen here is Nuna II, an entry powered by solar panels developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the recently launched SMART-1 lunar mission. The vehicle, controlled by the Dutch Nuon Solar Team, was leading the race by the third day of competition. In second place was the Aurora from Melbourne, with MIT's Tessaract vehicle coming up in third.
The World Solar Challenge began October 17 in the north Australia town of Darwin and runs 1,870 miles (3,010 kilometer) to Adelaide in the south. Nuna II is the Nuon team's second solar vehicle and the successor to Nuna, which won the solar race in 2001. The team is expected to reach Angle Vale on the outskirts of Adelaide tomorrow by 4:00 p.m. local time. If so, the Nuon would break its own 2001 world record for the time taken by a solar car to cross Australia.
Credit:
ESA
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