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Space Technology to Conquer Everest

Posted by michael on from the great-day-for-up dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "These days, the European Space Agency (ESA) is busy sharing its space technologies. Last week, in "Space technology hits the slopes," it said that the ski maker Rossignol hopes to beat the world speed skiing record of 250 km/h by using skis stabilized by a mechanism developed for ESA's Rosetta spacecraft. And today, the ESA announced that a satellite-based Health Monitoring Kit developed by the Canadian company March Networks and co-funded by ESA, will help climbers to escalate Everest. Of course, this kind of technology can be applied at lower altitudes. This overview contains other details and references about the March Networks Health Monitoring Kit."

19 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. What if he crashes? by Number_1_Bigg$ · · Score: 3, Funny

    They may need that health monitoring equipment immediately after he finishes going 250kph on his face...

    Or maybe they won't.

    1. Re:What if he crashes? by Mal-2 · · Score: 2, Informative

      At 250kph, all you need after a crash is a shovel. Motorcyclists who crack up at this speed usually end up scattered across several counties, so I don't see that a skier is going to be much safer (save that there are somewhat fewer obstacles).

      With Everest, the problem everyone faces is that there's precious little air to breathe up there, so unless you're Andean or a Sherpa, you can only survive for a limited time without supplemental oxygen. No amount of monitoring will change this, although it may be able to identify afflicted individuals in time to save them (mostly from doing something stupid while impaired) and keep them from pushing any further. Any technology truly sufficient to overcome this would be seen as "cheating" in some sense, as is claimed by purists about O2-assisted climbs of any sort.

      Mal-2

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    2. Re:What if he crashes? by commanderfoxtrot · · Score: 5, Informative

      I have skied at over 140kph (that's circa 90mph) down red runs (in the 3 Vallees) in the past. That's measured using a GPS, so add a few mph to take account of the angle.

      Believe me, you really don't want to fall over! I am an instructor, and felt confident even at those speeds, but the biggest danger is as the article says: the vibration. With modern parabolic/carving skis, the slightest angle on the ski will result in it trying to turn away; if this is not what you want, it could be curtains. Those small vibrations you feel skiing at a "normal" 30mph are multiplied dramatically at 90mph. It's not a thing I would recommend to any skier who is not an expert.

      Re crashing, I would hope that one would simply slide a long way; so long as you don't catch an edge falling and start tumbling, you should hopefully be OK. A motorcycle rider will probably correct me here :-) but bear in mind that you're more likely to slide on snow than on asphalt.

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  2. Yodel-a-e-hooo, Arghhh, slide, tumble by malia8888 · · Score: 2, Funny
    From the article: The climb to the almost 9000 metre summit has claimed the lives of about one hundred people. The March Networks technology will transmit blood oxygen levels (SpO2), heart rates, blood pressure and body temperatures of the climbers. The recorded data will be stored on Bluetooth-enabled PDA's and ultimately transmitted via satellite to a Canadian-hosted website

    Some of the other data which might be included is yodeling between 3000 and 6000 metres and the screams of a quick descent at 9000 metres.

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    1. Re:Yodel-a-e-hooo, Arghhh, slide, tumble by tgrotvedt · · Score: 2, Interesting
      The yodelling data does actually exist. I remember a story on NPR's All Things Considered wherein they made measurements of yodelling. They also looked at the carrying distance of some obscure African languages.

      Can't find a link, but someone may've heard it.

      --
      What makes a man want to be a mouse? (Python's Flying Circus)
  3. I swear when I read the title it read: by SB5 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Space Technology to Conquer Everquest.

    I don't play EQ, so I don't know how the association could have been made. I saw the first line and the mention of the ESA and wondered what the hell did they want to do with EQ. Then I reread the headline.

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    1. Re:I swear when I read the title it read: by MagPulse · · Score: 2, Funny

      Heh me too. I was thinking, finally the govt is putting my tax dollars to good use :-)

  4. escalate? by evanbd · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Escalate??

    I mean really, is it such a hard word? You scale a mountain. Or you climb a mountain. But escalate means something entirely different. A problem escalates. Not a mountain.

    1. Re:escalate? by meshmar · · Score: 2, Funny

      Think technology ... they are going to put an escalator up the side of Everest so the out-of-shape geeks can make the climb too! ;-)

    2. Re:escalate? by gardyloo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah, settle down there, turbo. My Spanish roommate, when he's not quite sure of the English word, picks something close (like 'scale') and does his funky Spanification on it. I'll ask him later, but I'll bet you that 'scale' will turn into 'escalate'. If the other poster is correct about a French parent poster, I see no problem with it. Sure, it's sloppy English, but they're doing a damn sight better than most Americans I know.

  5. Re:Well.. by Soft · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I'm not impressed. Have ESA made a pen that can be used in zero gravity yet?

    Yes.

  6. Re:Well.. by JoScherl · · Score: 2, Funny

    ESA doesn'T need a special pen - they use simple pencils or computers ;-)

  7. Re:Well.. by zakezuke · · Score: 3, Informative

    Have ESA made a pen that can be used in zero gravity yet?

    http://www.spacepen.com/usa/history/index.htm

    I've posted on slashdot regarding the urban legond of nasa developing a spacepen. According to what i've read it was not developed by nasa at all but rather by Fisher which was sold to Nasa at $5.00 a pop.

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  8. Great for autopsies by NMerriam · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So it records vital signs on a bluetooth enabled PDA, which can later be used to transmit the data when they get back to the satellite system. That's great -- if there is an emergency, all they have to do is find the bodies, hope that they used the kit during the emergency to gather data, bring back the PDAs, and they'll know exactly what killed the climbers!

    Forgive my sarcasm, we did this in 1998 and 1999 (Everest Extreme"), except we were sending the data in real time over 900mhz radio to the doctor at base camp and via sat back to the hospital in the USA. And it was gathered 24/7 because they were wearing the monitors, not some box of medical tools to be used briefly. That way, if someone was having trouble, we could actually tell what was wrong and where to find the climber (GPS is handy that way).

    The things that kill on Everest are getting lost/falling off in bad weather and hypothermia (dehydration is actually the biggest medical problem, but it doesn't usually kill).

    --
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  9. When people climb Everest by LOL+WTF+OMG!!!!!!!!! · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They often seem to ignore their waning health. The kind of people that attempt a feat like this are often willing to accept the consequences of death.

    It's interesting to note that quite a few people have made it to the peak of Everest, and then died on the way down.

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    1. Re:When people climb Everest by dj245 · · Score: 3, Interesting
      It's interesting to note that quite a few people have made it to the peak of Everest, and then died on the way down.

      I think this may have to do with the psychology of the person. Maybe they get some sort of idea that once they get to the top, there will be blondes in bikini's there to meet them (Oxygen deprivation will do that to ya) and then everything will be fine, so they press on, when they should rest. They make it to the top but then don't have the energy to get down.

      Perhaps these real-time life sign monitoring eqiupment can be used to help prevent that. Climbers of Everest pay some hefty fees just for the privlidge of the climb. Maybe we could have a doctor or two in a chateau at the bottom looking at everyones lifesigns in realtime? Could save a couple lives, especially with the last few seasons being particually deadly. Hey, why not. They're rich white folk. (well, mostly white)

      --
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    2. Re:When people climb Everest by LOL+WTF+OMG!!!!!!!!! · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But if they're stuck near the top of the mountain, dying, there isn't much anybody can do. I don't think it's possible to get helicopters up that high (they use those to get the base camp which I believe it at around 18k feet).

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  10. Re:Well.. by PatrickThomson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    NASA spent millions on a zero-gravity pen.

    In Solviet Russia, they used a pencil.

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  11. Re:Well.. by another_henry · · Score: 4, Funny
    NASA spent millions on a zero-gravity pen.
    In Soviet Russia, they used a pencil.

    Bullshit.

    --
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