As soon as next month, a single-seat, solar-powered plane with a wingspan longer than that of a Boeing 747 will take off on a five-month journey around the planet. This morning, the team behind Solar Impulse 2, the 5,000-pound plane powered by nothing but sunshine, announced the route pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg will follow, starting and ending in Abu Dhabi.

The solar panels that cover the wings and fuselage of Solar Impulse 2 charge up four extra-efficient batteries, which make up a quarter of the plane’s weight. Those power its 17.4-horsepower motors, enough to move the plane at 20 to 90 mph (hey, this isn't exactly the Concorde). The plane and its predecessor, Solar Impulse 1, have already completed flights across the United States and overnight. But this journey will send it across oceans for the first time.

The key to staying aloft for up to five days at a time—necessary when flying across the Pacific at the speed of a professional cyclist—is charging up the batteries during the day time and cruising at up to 28,000 feet. When the sun sets, the plane descends to about 5,000 feet, converting altitude into distance. Also key: the cockpit seat reclines so the pilot can sleep, and doubles as a toilet. All told, Piccard and Borschberg will cover 22,000 miles and spend about 500 hours in the air, the equivalent of three weeks. The 60-person support team will be monitoring weather systems to change the route as necessary.

In late February or early March, they will take off from Abu Dhabi and head east, stopping first in Muscat, Oman, then in Ahmedabad and Varanasi, India. After stops in Mandalay, Myanmar, and Chongquing and Nanjing in China, the plane will cross the Pacific, landing in Hawaii en route to Phoenix. Next up is a stop somewhere in the Midwest (TBD based on weather conditions), then a touchdown at New York’s JFK airport. From there, Solar Impulse 2 will cross the Atlantic, landing in either Southern Europe or North Africa, and then head back to Abu Dhabi.

The point of the flight isn’t to produce commercially viable solar-powered planes. Battery-powered aircraft are in their infancy, even those that can charged up with a cord and an outlet. It’s all about proving what’s possible. “When the Apollo astronauts went to the moon, it wasn't to launch tourism on the moon and open hotels and make money,” Piccard says. “It was to inspire the world.”