Solar powered plane flies over Mediterranean

A solar powered plane has taken off on a cross-Mediterranean flight for its "last rehearsal" before a round-the-world attempt in 2014.

The Solar Impulse took off from an airfield in western Switzerland and is scheduled to make a stop-over in Spain after a 20-hour flight, before finally flying to the Moroccan capital Rabat on Monday.

Solar Impulse founder, Bertrand Piccard, told Reuters:

Pilot Andre Borschberg, who was flying the aircraft to Madrid, said he found it "rewarding", that the plane flies on solar power only.

The Solar Impulse project began in 2003 with a 10-year budget of 90 million euros ($128 million).

The plane, which requires 12,000 solar cells, embarked on its first flight in April 2010 and completed a 26-hour flight, a record flying time for a solar powered aircraft, three months later.

A year later, in 2011, the plane and its crew completed the world's first international flights with a solar-powered airplane as they landed at Brussels and Paris airports.

With an average flying speed of 70 km/h (44mph), Solar Impulse is not an immediate threat to commercial jets which can easily cruise at more than 10 times the speed.

A larger prototype of the current SolarImpulse aircraft is scheduled to fly around the world in 2014.