Space car on tour

Sander Zijlstra in Nuna II during a short stop on the way

Thursday 19 August was the day of long distances. We left pretty early, with a trip of about 520 km ahead of us, from Sundsvall to Luleå. The weather was dubious and Nuna II started the journey in the trailer, but a little while a few kilometres on the solar car could be taken out.
 
Later that evening the team were able to relax at the Scandic hotel, with a swim and sauna, and catching up on the Olympics.  
 

Team members interviewed by locals at Storgatan

Luleå, 20 August
 
When we had breakfast at the hotel on Friday morning, the rain was most unfortunately pouring down over Luleå. The skies did clear up a bit and it stopped raining during the morning, but the roads remained wet and the team decided to take Nuna on the trailer.

Nuna II was shown to the public at Storgatan and the interviews drew the attention of many passers-by, in particular the children.
 
 

	Children gathered around Nuna II

During the afternoon, the solar car was put on display at Teknikens Hus at the campus area of Luleå University of technology. Many children gathered around the car when it arrived at the museum. Building your own solar cell boat, watching a space theatre and launching of small rockets were just some of the activities the children could participate in at Teknikens Hus during the day.

Later that afternoon the convoy left for Kiruna, where a surprise dinner was arranged for the group.


 
 

Nuna 2 in Norway and Sweden. See enlarged map.

About the space car Nuna II
 
Nuna II is the fastest solar-powered car on Earth, with top speeds of 170 km/h, thanks to leading-edge technologies from Europe's space programmes, and is currently on tour in Sweden and Norway.

Travelling 3010 km in 31 hours and five minutes, Nuna II won the World Solar Challenge in Australia in October 2003. The car was built and driven by students from Delft University in The Netherlands.

ESA provided through its Technology Transfer Programme several of the key technologies onboard Nuna: solar cells, batteries, power control system and lightweight carbon-fibre plastics, all been developed for European satellite systems.

In particular the high-efficiency solar cells were novel technologies first flown on the SMART-1 satellite, built by the Swedish Space Corporation as prime contractor. The use of these cells and the other space technologies on a solar powered car is an excellent demonstration of the potential of space technology in sustainable transportation.

The Nuna II is visiting Sweden and Norway 14-22 August 2004 and touring nine cities, all with industries, research centres and universities active in the space field. The solar car will stop in Oslo, Gothenburg, Linköping, Stockholm, Uppsala, Luleå, Kiruna, Narvik, and Andenäs.