Edge of Space paradrop attempt

[Buster's Uncle]

Read the last quote in the actual article.  It's a pet peeve of mine when people cheapen the very concept of heroism by calling non-heroic people heros, just to be clear.

The man down in Florida years ago, who waded into the water and fought a shark that was biting his nephew's arm off  --- and won - now, he's a hero.  Heroes don't just do flashy things.  Heros achieve something that matters.

Not to take away from this daredevil - but breaking a record isn't heroism.

[Green1]

Indeed, BU. Not a hero, but a daredevil with money that did somethig pretty hard.

Still, I am fixing to go check out the youtube and see what the fall looks like.

[Buster's Uncle]

Yeah; it a lot more interesting/mpressive than I was saying initially, really, just no lives saved, no evil thwarted.  I hope some useful science comes of it, at least.  There ought to be.

[Green1]

Yeah, I am sure there is a lot of Felix's ego in there. Not saying that is bad, these type folks tend to be very narcissistic. They have to be that way.

There is some science here, though. That suit is a state of the art suit. You bet the aeronautic part of NAySAy and a bunch of others want to look at what Felix paid experts to construct.

Now, you take that further. If you can design a EVA suit which also withstand reentry, you are a step closer to orbital insertions. Think of the military applications as well as thrill wealthy tourist applications. In certain points of Low Earth Orbit and Suborbital, you have a wide area you can hit. Of course, regular GI Joe is not going to be up for this. Nor would you or I unless we secretly have ex-HALO on the forums. But, a few folks with training...

Only thing is that weather... and certain trajectories and speeds I do not think any suit type deal could survive unless you go with a capsule. Unless we make breakthoughs there. We have, too, already. The Orion heatshield is more effecient than that of the shuttle (NSF-L2) and MUCH better in tests than Apollo due to materials research.

[Buster's Uncle]

Sure.  And there's a touch of science in nothing more than doing it and proving it can be done - whatever the inspiration and motivational set of the participants in the jump 50 years ago, the Air Force wouldn't have sponsored or even allowed it if there was nothing to learn, no return on the expense.

I haven't the foggiest how good the engineering on his suit was - just that he's alive, and surely wouldn't be if he'd done it in a standard flight suit and breathing gear.  So it was at least competent.  It will be interesting to hear if anything further comes of it.

Daredevil stuff leaves me cold, but research, especially space-related stuff - well now, that is relevant to my interests.

[Buster's Uncle]

Google exec makes record skydive from edge of space
AFP
By Rob Lever  20 minutes ago



lan Eustace speaks during the grand opening of Google Kirkland October 28, 2009 in Kirkland, Washington (AFP Photo/Stephen Brashear)



Washington (AFP) - A Google executive set a new record Friday by jumping successfully from near the top of the stratosphere -- some 135,000 feet, or 41,000 meters high, his project website said.

The record dive by 57-year-old Alan Eustace, who is a "senior vice president of knowledge" at Google, was conducted as part of the Stratospheric Explorer project to allow manned exploration of the stratosphere above 100,000 feet.

According to a statement from the Paragon Space Development Corporation, Eustace completed the four-hour mission over Roswell, New Mexico, using a specially designed space suit and balloon module to carry him to the stratosphere.

"Ascending at about 1,000 feet per minute, Alan achieved his target altitude in about two and a half hours," the statement said.

"He spent a short time, around a half hour, experiencing the wonders of the stratosphere before being released from the balloon. In rapid free fall, Alan experienced a short period of near weightlessness and within 90 seconds exceeded the speed of sound."

The previous record was set by Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner in 2012, jumping from a height of nearly 128,000 feet or 38,969 meters, also from New Mexico.

Eustace's free-fall into the atmosphere lasted about five minutes, and he deployed his parachute at around 18,000 feet "and floated gently to the ground," the statement said.

"Within four hours of launch, Alan arrived at the launch site where the team and guests toasted his achievement and safe return."

Paragon produced the recovery systems for the project, designed by the engineering firm ILC Dover with assistance from several other consultants and companies.

The New York Times, which first reported the news, quoted Eustace as saying, "It was amazing. It was beautiful. You could see the darkness of space and you could see the layers of atmosphere, which I had never seen before."

The Times said that Eustace was propelled from the module with a small explosive charge, sending him traveling briefly at supersonic speeds, creating a sonic boom heard by observers on the ground.

According to Paragon, the system has wide-ranging applications for the study of the science of the stratosphere.

These include the "development of means for spaceship crew egress, the study of dynamics of bodies at Mach 1, new high altitude aircraft suits, and setting of records for space diving, sailplaning and ballooning."

Without special equipment, humans cannot live at that altitude, according to Paragon, which says that "besides being unable to breath, exposure to the vacuum of space will cause fluids in the body to boil."

The space suit is similar to those used for the Apollo missions and on the International Space Station, the company said.

The missions by Eustace and Baumgartner offer hope for rescue and evacuation from troubled spacecraft. The US space shuttle was fitted with a crew evacuation system after the 1986 Challenger disaster.

The private firm World View Experience announced that it had obtained the rights to offer these dives for "near space" tourism and research. For $75,000, adventurers can duplicate the experience.

"World View will have voyagers floating peacefully to the edge of space for a one-to-two-hour space cruise within a luxury capsule complete with bar and lavatory, which is transported by a parafoil and high-altitude balloon," the company said.

"They can even share the experience in real-time with loved ones thanks to in-flight Internet access."

http://news.yahoo.com/google-exec-makes-record-skydive-edge-space-222428937.html

[Green1]

Wake me up, BU, when they start base jumping from the ISS...

Speaking of which... is that even possible? I wonder.

But I guess rich daredevils is the place to start.

[Buster's Uncle]

Seems like doing it from orbit would require an unlikely ablative pressure suit, or a prohibitively expensive amount of fuel..,.

[Green1]

Well, the article does hint at something like that. Maybe not as high up as the ISS, but not as low as the stratosphere.

The missions by Eustace and Baumgartner offer hope for rescue and evacuation from troubled spacecraft. The US space shuttle was fitted with a crew evacuation system after the 1986 Challenger disaster.

So.. if the Space Shuttles had this, I am guessing orbital insertions are possible with modifications of these suits the richlings are using..

[Buster's Uncle]

That's some sort of escape capsule.  Doing it in a box doesn't count.

Also, usable only during launch.  No reentry situations need apply.

Green, I thought you kept up with this stuff...

[Green1]

That's some sort of escape capsule.  Doing it in a box doesn't count.

Also, usable only during launch.  No reentry situations need apply.

Green, I thought you kept up with this stuff...

I do... and it is not a "box"... but I am sure NASA did not want to talk about it...

There are situations where you get in a suit and bail from the space shuttle post Columbia...

A particular significant enhancement was bailout capability. This is not ejection as with a fighter plane, but an Inflight Crew Escape System[14] (ICES). The vehicle was put in a stable glide on autopilot, the hatch was blown, and the crew slid out a pole to clear the orbiter's left wing. They would then parachute to earth or the sea. While this may at first appear only usable under rare conditions, there were many failure modes where reaching an emergency landing site was not possible yet the vehicle was still intact and under control. Before the Challenger disaster, this almost happened on STS-51-F, when a single SSME failed at about T+345 seconds. The orbiter in that case was also Challenger. A second SSME almost failed due to a spurious temperature reading; fortunately the engine shutdown was inhibited by a quick-thinking flight controller. If the second SSME failed within about 69 seconds of the first, there would have been insufficient energy to cross the Atlantic. Without bailout capability the entire crew would be lost. After the loss of Challenger, those types of failures were made survivable. To facilitate high altitude bailouts, the crew began wearing the Launch Entry Suit and later the Advanced Crew Escape Suit during ascent and descent. Before the Challenger disaster, crews for operational missions wore only fabric flight suits.

Although I have not found information on the altitude the Advanced Crew Escape Suit can survive a bail out from.

I do know they are working on a new suit for Orion and Dragon capsules in case they need to bail from those...

[Buster's Uncle]

Those will turn out to not be reentry-certified, I assure you.

[Buster's Uncle]

Google exec sets records with leap from near-space
AP - Sports  October 24, 2014 10:03 PM
 


ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) -- Google executive Alan Eustace broke the sound barrier and set several skydiving records over the southern New Mexico desert early Friday after taking a big leap from the edge of space.

Eustace's supersonic jump was part of a project by Paragon Space Development Corp. and its Stratospheric Explorer team, which has been working secretly for years to develop a self-contained commercial spacesuit that would allow people to explore some 20 miles above the Earth's surface.

Friday's success marked a major step forward in that effort, company officials said.

''This has opened up endless possibilities for humans to explore previously seldom visited parts of our stratosphere,'' Grant Anderson, Paragon president and CEO, said in a statement.

The technology that has gone into developing the balloon, the spacesuit and the other systems that were used in Friday's launch will be used to advance commercial spaceflight, namely efforts by Arizona-based World View Enterprises to take paying tourists up in a high-altitude balloon and luxury capsule starting in late 2016.

As more people head into the stratosphere, the spacesuits could be adapted for emergency rescues or other scientific endeavors, officials said.

After nearly three years of intense planning, development and training, Eustace began his ascent via a high-altitude, helium-filled balloon just as the sun was rising. It took more than two hours to hit an altitude of 135,890 feet, from which he separated himself from the balloon and started plummeting back to Earth.

Wearing his specially designed spacesuit, Eustace hit a top velocity of 822 mph during a freefall that lasted 4 1/2 minutes.

Jim Hayhurst, director of competition at the United States Parachute Association, was the jump's official observer. He said Eustace deployed a drogue parachute that gave him incredible stability and control despite the massive Mach 1.23 speed reached during the freefall.

Eustace didn't feel it when he broke the sound barrier, but the ground crew certainly heard the resulting sonic boom, Hayhurst said.

''He just said it was a fabulous view. He was thrilled,'' Hayhurst said of his conversation with Eustace after he landed.

The supersonic skydive happened with little fanfare, out of the media spotlight, unlike the 2012 attempt by daredevil Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team. Baumgartner, who was taken aloft in a capsule with the help of millions of dollars in sponsorships, had set the previous altitude record by jumping from 128,100 feet.

Watching Eustace and his team prepare was historic, said Hayhurst, likening the scene to what it must have been like to watch Ryan Airlines Corp. build the Spirit of St. Louis in the late 1920s.

''This was a bunch of quiet engineers doing the job,'' he said. ''This is a scientific endeavor. This is a stepping stone to space.''

http://news.yahoo.com/google-exec-sets-records-leap-195718777--spt.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Googler Jumps From Stratosphere, Breaking Baumgartner’s Record
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=13000.msg60417#msg60417

[Buster's Uncle]

Google executive sets new stratosphere skydive world record
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=13006.msg60437#msg60437