Solar car 'Nuna' in DCU during science week
6 January 2003

On the 21 November 2001 the Dutch solar car Nuna finished first in the World Solar Challenge, a 3010 km race right across Australia for cars powered by solar energy. Having set off from Darwin on Sunday 18 November,Nuna crossed the finishing line in Adelaide on Wednesday 21 November in a record-breaking time of 32 hours 39 minutes. The average speed of the car was 91 kilometres per hour, also a new record.

On the fourth day Nuna had to travel 830 km, reaching a top speed of more than 100 km per hour and setting a new record into the bargain by finishing in just under 4 days.

Eight Dutch students from the universities of Delft and Amsterdam forming the Alpha Centauri Team built this streamlined machine. Using advanced space technology provided via ESA's Technology Transfer Programme, the car was able to reach a theoretical top speed of over 160 km per hour.

A solar car is basically an electric vehicle that carries its own generator. Solar panels on top of the car generate electrical power. The solar panels convert light energy into electricity, and a battery pack stores this energy.

Nuna's aerodynamically optimised outer shell is built from space-age plastics to keep it light and strong. Its main body is made from carbon fibre, reinforced with kelvar, a material once used in satellites, but now used extensively for bulletproof vests. Nuna also carries Maximum Power Point Trackers, small devices that guarantee an optimal balance between power from the battery and the solar cells, even in less favourable situations like shade and cloud. Many satellites carry these devices, for instance ESA's Rosetta mission to comet Wirtanen. Two small strips of solar cells on the Nuna were originally part of the Hubble Space Telescope. They were donated to the Alpha Centauri Team as a luck mascot and were intended to power the car's communication equipment. The space technology aboard included the best dual junction and triple junction gallium-arsenide solar cells, developed for satellites. ESA will test these cells in space in early 2003, when the technology-demonstrating SMART-1 mission is launched to the Moon.

The Alpha Centauri team and their Nuna are taking part in an extensive tour to visit schools in the Member States of ESA. This educational programme serves to emphasize the value of space technology for a more sustainable world and show in a tangible manner how the dreams of youngsters can become reality. This tour started in Sweden on November 4th 2002 and will arrive in Ireland on January 9th 2003, with exhibitions in Belfast, Dublin and Galway.