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Skydiving from 25 Miles Up
chisox writes "The Observer has a story about a retired French army colonel who is soon to make a free fall parachute jump from 25 miles up. In the process he will break the sound barrier, reaching a top speed of mach 1.68 before he opens his parachute 1,000 metres above the Earth. Of course, if the chute doesn't open, the hole he'll make will be about 1,000 metres deep." Well, actually his max speed will be high up and near the earth the atmosphere will have slowed him down to terminal velocity.
Someone should tip off the drilling companies: rather than pay skilled people to operate fancy drilling rigs, just drop the rigs and/or people out of an airplane.
(* Of course, if the chute doesn't open, the hole he'll make will be about 1,000 metres deep." *)
I hope he does it near my hometown. I always wanted to visit that crater in Arizona, but it is too far and too hot.
We need a local one.
Table-ized A.I.
(* Will he really experience a sonic boom? If so wouldn't that destroy his ear drums. *)
Do French sonic booms sound more romantic to chicks than American sonic booms?
Table-ized A.I.
65 million years ago, the dinosaurs disappeared mysteriously from the earth, supposedly caused by an impact from a meteor or piece of comet.
A.D.2002: A retired French army colonel makes his skydive from 25 miles up. As he approaches mach 1.68, a bright flash is seen, and he vanishes. For years, the mystery of what happened to him remains unsolved.
A.D.2042: It is discovered that at the moment the retired colonel reached mach 1.68, he caused a rift in the space-time continuum and travelled 65 million years back in time and slammed into the earth at 1200MPH, creator a crator and wiping out dinosaur life.