As an astrophysicist, I study the heavens from our planet Earth. I enjoy approaching them more closely when travelling by air from France to Quebec or to the incomparable Galapagos Islands. If I could be flying in a solar airplane, my pleasure would be multiplied tenfold.
"Your demonstration that such an airplane is not a wild dream, but on the contrary an additional expression of human genius, would comfort me in my desire to be optimistic. What a distance we have covered since Icare! And while you are accomplishing this promising feat, others on earth will be busy with less glorious but just as indispensable tasks. To each his role as there's work for all of us. I too have a part to play: the ROC League, over which I preside, is dedicated to the defence of the wonderful diversity of the species... for we are all, first and foremost, passengers together on board our planet. Flights always bring us back to earth so we had better ensure it remains habitable."