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Exclusive: Anonymous Content, Red Bull Studios and Rise Films have partnered to produce new documentary feature The Balloonists following Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard and English balloonist Brian Jones. BAFTA and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker John Dower has come aboard to direct the project and Anonymous Content’s AC Independent will oversee sales.

The Balloonists follows the unlikely duo of Swiss explorer Piccard and British flying instructor Jones who, in 1999, took on the world’s leading aeronauts and ultra-rich adventurers in a race to become the first people to fly nonstop around the world in a hot air balloon. Many in the aviation community believed this to be an impossible feat, after years of failed attempts by balloonists from across the globe. More than most racing sports, ballooning is subject to the capricious whims of nature. An aeronaut must learn to accept the unexpected and respect their position in the hierarchy of the natural world,...

Access to Inspiration, founded in 2019, published its 100th podcast episode recently and continues to innovate in the burgeoning podcast space. We are proud to announce that the podcast is partnering with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (Rsgs) to record a series focused on climate solutions and encouraging people to be more actively climate conscious.

The series will feature a range of guests who will share their insights on ways to create a more sustainable future by using creativity, campaigning, and collaborating with business, including JoJo Mehta, Co-Founder of Stop Ecocide, Roisin Hyde, whose Ted Talk on Geopolymers has had over 30,000 views and Bertrand Piccard who successfully flew around the world in a solar-powered airplane.

Both Rsgs and Access to Inspiration share values of being inspiring and informative as well as championing a global perspective as podcast host, Sue Stockdale, commented “our podcast provides access to diverse voices, inspirational stories, and broader perspectives,...

The dream of flight may be almost as old as humanity itself, and it’s constantly evolving with every new innovation. Leonardo da Vinci conceived how flight could be technologically achieved, and generations of pilots have pushed aircraft from the North Carolina Outer Banks bluffs through the stratosphere and to the moon with the advent of spacecraft. All of these accomplishments, however, relied on fossil fuels to achieve their objectives, because it wasn’t until the second millennium that solar-powered aircraft even became feasible.

Advances in aerospace engineering gave record-setting Swiss balloonist Bertrand Piccard the opportunity to begin developing a project in...

Yesterday marks a small but significant moment in history: Test pilot Markus Scherdel flew the Solar Impulse aircraft for the first time. It's amazing because Solar Impulse is entirely solar-powered, and took to the sky through simple light from the sun.

The flight was nothing more than a short 350-meter hop a meter off the ground, but with the four props spinning under electric motor power, it's an amazing triumph that marks the beginning of the end of 10 years of work. Solar impulse Hb-sia was, for this short flight, not garnering its energy from the sun--the solar cells are going to be connected up for the next series of trials--but the significance is undiminished, since now the research team knows its vehicle is air-worthy, all it needs is to perfect the solar charging system.

The flight, despite its similarity to the Wright brother's first short hop, is unlikely to be as transformational.

Someday soon Bertrand Piccard is going to throw the switches on his Solar Impulse Foundation aircraft, tug back on the stick and pull it into the air. Then he'll fly it right around the world. The impressive technology demonstrator's just about to take its maiden flight. Let's hope it's not cloudy.

The Solar Impulse Foundation, cofounded by Piccard, has some loft goals about promoting research and innovative exploitations of renewable energy use in the aeronautics industry, getting the information and news about inventions out to the public, and promoting sustainable development. One route to doing this is to tackle the tricky challenge of flying around the world in a solar-powered aircraft, and that's exactly what the Sif set out to do in 2003--with building starting in 2007.

Several weeks ago the impressive-looking vehicle, dotted with 12,000 individual photovoltaic solar cells underwent some initial engine power tests, and last week it rolled down...