This week has already seen full-power tests of the engines
The prototype of a solar-powered plane destined for a record round-the-world journey will make its first trip across a runway on Thursday and Friday.
This week saw the Solar Impulse plane outside its hangar for the first time, with tests of its engines and computer.
The plane's maiden flight is scheduled for February, and a final version will attempt to cross the Atlantic in 2012.
As wide as a jumbo jet but weighing just 1,500 kg, it will be piloted by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard.
"It's very exciting, we are moving now toward a very concrete phase," said Solar Impulse chief executive Andre Borschberg.
"You have to realise this airplane is quite special and you cannot just put it on the runway, apply full power and go in the air - it has to be done really step-by-step," he told BBC News.
Wright stuff
To that end, the team has spent several days ramping the plane's engines up to full power, and the "taxiing tests" of Thursday and Friday will give the test pilot a feel for how the plane moves on the ground.
If the tests are successful, the next step will be a short hop in about two weeks' time.
"We'll take off at the beginning of the runway, fly a few metres above it - a little bit like the Wright brothers did in 1903 - and then land again, to see how it behaves at the beginning of the flight.
"If this is satisfactory, we will dismantle it and transport it to [Payerne air force base in western Switzerland] where will we do the real first flight of about two hours, in February."
But each step will be a careful one, Mr Borschberg stressed.
"This is truly a new design - an airplane the size of an Airbus and the weight of a mid-sized car - so we're not taking risks by not understanding something."
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