News: FLIGHT TO FUTURE

Night test: Solar-powered plane to fly non-stop on 24-Hour flight Payrne (Switzerland): An experimental solar-powered aircraft took off from a Swiss airbase in the early hours of Wednesday. in  a bid to make history by flying round the clock and through the night.          Solar Impulse whirred along the runway at Payerne in western Switzerland, reaching 35 kilometres per hour as lone pilot Ander Borschberg gently lifted into clear skies at 6.51am  (0451 GMT) on a scheduled 25 hgour flight.        "This should be a great day of all goes well," said team chief Bertrand Piccard, who made the first non-stop round-the-world flight in a a balloon more than a decade ago, "It's clear that this is something that is completely different at least for aviation,but it's also something completely different to what has existed in our society," he added moments before take-off.         The ground control crew were due to decide about 13 hours latest, shortly before dusk, whether Borschberg should press on through darkness with his endeavour. The go-ahead will depend on the sun's ability  to charge up Solar Impulse's batteries in the daytime and the threat of strong high-altitude winds.         Borscherg, the plane's sole pilot, will decide by 8pm (1800 GMT) whether to continue through the night, if he goes ahead, the plane will slowly descend to 4.920 feet before midnight, where Borschberg will stay until attempting a dawn landing.