How high? How fast?

As I write this a 43 Austrian skydiver is preparing to perform the jump of his life. His location is Roswell, New Mexico and his epic jump will land him a well earned place in the record books as the highest free fall ever.

He plans to jump from a height of 120,000ft or in new money, 36.5km. That is nearly 23 miles! To put this height in some perspective Mount Everest is at a height of 8,848m and a Boeing 747 travels at a height of 14,000m. Over twice the height of a Jumbo Jet! That is some crazy jump!

This stunt requires a number of technological problems to be overcome. Firstly Felix Baumgarter has to get up there. As he is above the height that planes fly he can't just jump out of a aeroplane in the traditional way. Therefore he will travel to the edge of space using a helium balloon. He will sit in a capsule underneath the balloon as it lifts him towards the heavens. Initially the balloon will appear small but as he travels aloft the decreasing pressure will cause the helium and therefore the balloon to expand.

http://www.techedon.com/wp-content/themes/striking/cache/images/Skydiving_From_Space-480x720.jpg
As the atmosphere is just 2% of that on the ground he requires to wear a state of the art space suit.

When he jumps he will be reaching speeds nearing 690mph. It is possible that he could break the sound barrier; what this might do to his body is poorly understood. Apparently the pressure waves might cause his body to enter an uncontrollable spin which could be potentially fatal. According to the experts he must maintain a special position as he falls to ensure that he remains stable.

If all goes well he will open his parachute one and a half kilometres above the ground and parachute safely to the desert floor.

If things go wrong I doubt there will be much left to see...TV coverage has a built in delay just in case.

Good luck to him.



Comments

  1. Ed Vogue9 October 2012 at 18:49

    Oh no. Due to gusty winds attempt aborted today

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9 October 2012 at 18:55

    I want to watch that, please can you update us on screening please?
    As a keen science man I would have thought you would have taken the opportunity to also discuss terminal velocity which I'm assuming he will slow down to after reaching the speed of sound? Missed learning opportunity there Ed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ed Vogue9 October 2012 at 19:06

    http://www.redbullstratos.com

    ReplyDelete

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