It is mission accomplished and into the history books after a revolutionary round-the-clock flight by a solar-powered plane.

Traditional aviation fuel was not in the equation as the experimental single-seater Solar Impulse came into land at an airbase at Payerne in Switzerland.

Andre Borschberg, a Swiss former fighter jet pilot, kept the plane in the skies for 26 hours, powered by rays from the sun.

Solar Impulse could stay airborne at night because energy supplied to its 12,000 solar cells had been stored in its batteries during daytime.

With the test flight of this wide-winged prototype a triumph, organisers now hope to make the first manned solar flight across the Atlantic. The ultimate goal is to circumnavigate the globe, using only energy from the sun.

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