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Supersonic Skydiving
Almost six years ago, we talked about the story of Michel Fournier, a retired French army officer who planned to skydive from a height of 25 miles. That plan and a subsequent attempt one year later both failed due to "technical and weather-related problems." Now, at the age of 64, Fournier is set to try again. If everything goes right, his speed will approach 1,000 miles per hour during the early stages of his 15-minute descent. Quoting the NYTimes:
"Fournier faces plenty of perils. Above 40,000 feet, there is not enough oxygen to breathe in the frigid air. He could experience a fatal embolism. And 12 miles up, should his protective systems fail, his blood could begin to boil because of the air pressure, said Henri Marotte, a professor of physiology at the University of Paris and a member of Fournier's team. 'If the human body were exposed at very high altitude, the loss of consciousness is very fast, in five seconds,' Marotte said. 'Brain damage, in three or four minutes.'"
...that was already done on Star Trek.
I for one think that it is an interesting idea if they can reliably pull it off.
He's probably the aloof adventurer type. When asked by the press (repeatedly) he'll probably respond with some 3 word sentence.
Press: How was the trip? What did you experience?
Fournier: It was pretty exciting.
Press: What went through your mind as you were falling?
Fournier: I remembered that I had forgot to shut the garage door at home at one point.
blah blah blah.....
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Now we know why NASA and the US aren't bothering with a replacement for the Shuttle - they'll just have returning astronauts skydive back to earth!
Three Squirrels
Been there, Done that.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
"I can't think of a bigger stunt, other than perhaps trying to re-enter the earth's atmosphere with just your body, and I think we're a long way away from that."
It sounds pretty feasible to me. Assuming the jump is from above the atmosphere but not from orbit, the re-entry heating is fairly small (SpaceShipOne had little to no heat-shielding). Given a spacesuit and some sort of partially-rigid insulating blanket (like the old 'astronaut's inflatable lifeboat' idea), it's probably only a matter of time until someone jumps out of a suborbital craft.
When I get older losing my hair,
Many years from now.
Will you still be sending me a valentine,
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine.
If I'd been setting several new records by skydiving from the edge of space, breaking the sound barrier for the first time in history and risking death in several interesting and horrible ways
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four.
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Cool, but I don't give the guy much of a chance of survival.
Is it just me that noticed that he wouldn't be breaking the speed of sound at all? At such high altitudes the atmosphere is thinner, where the real speed of sound is faster than the ground speed (e.g. faster than 340ms, and almost certainly faster than he can travel at). Correct me if I'm wrong (which I know of course you will)
Makes me think of the really cool Boards of Canada video for their song Dayvan Cowboy. The video starts from high in the atmosphere and then down into the water and waves.
He was supposed to jump today above Canada. I would think he'd have done it by now but I can't find any news about it. There must be some video of this unless it ended tragically. By the way, who is going to stay in the balloon or does it just drift into space?
Just found out that the news stories are wrong and he is jumping early tomorrow (Monday) not today.
I'm still curious as to whether this was doable or not. It would still take at least 4500 meters of free fall to go to Mach one... And letting go of the handles must be a bitch of a slap in the face!
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The funny thing is that I don't even play that game, but the cut-scene where Sarge (? --see, I really don't play this game) jumps from some spaceship in outer orbit made me think of this feat to be performed.
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Correct me if I'm way off base on this one, but wouldn't this require some immense hearing protection? I mean, coming out of supersonic speeds will cause quite the deafening vibrations against his ear drums, won't it?
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
Or is he going to be pulverized by the sound-level?
I think, though, that unless they've done experiments in supersonic wind-tunnels, he's dead-meat: the pain from that sound-level, unshielded by tons of machinery, the abrasive dust eroding his suit, the sonic boom possibly cracking his visor...
I hope, if it does kill him, that it isn't too painful.
Good Luck, man, and I hope I'm wrong ( or that you've done ALL the necessary tests! )
I for one would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new supersonic sub-orbital overloards from inner space!
"It seems that we are at the age where life stops giving us things, and starts taking them away..." Indiana Jones
Supersonic, eh? That's one fast Fournier!
With this trick he'll be the master of his domain!
Indeed, this feat will transform the field of skydiving forever!
*dodges rotten fruit*
It occurred to me couple years ago that one of the things that makes skydiving a little expensive is the parachute. To slow a person down enough to touch down on land means the chute has to be quite large and thus quite fragile in order to be packed down small enough. Fragile chutes wear out quicker as well. So why not touch down on water instead? You could tolerate a much higher touchdown speed and thus you could use a much smaller parachute. The chute could be made thicker and sturdier and still be packed down into an acceptable size. It could be reused many more times and would retain a higher percentage of its original price when sold used. Rentals would probably be safer, cheaper, more profitable, and more popular. Also, broken legs and crashes into trees and power lines would probably be reduced. Though perhaps drownings would be unacceptably common. Getting into the sport would be much cheaper, with the airplane ride becoming the dominant cost for the first jump. Or maybe I misunderstand the economics of skydiving as it is. Have you heard of this idea before? Does it sound like a good idea?
In supersonic skydiving, nobody can hear you scream.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
According the Michel Fournier's site: http://www.thesuperjump.org/retranscription.html (in French) the sky dive has been delayed due to unfavorable weather conditions.
It has been rescheduled for tomorrow when weather conditions are forecast to be much better.
Because of high winds this jump has been put off until tomorrow, 5 am Canada time.
This project is cursed:
French skydiver's hopes deflate as balloon escapes Updated Tue. May. 27 2008 8:06 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
French skydiver Michel Fournier's massive helium balloon appeared to break free from its moorings Tuesday, soaring into the sky and deflating his hopes to set a new world record for highest jump. It was the second straight day that Fournier's hopes were cut short.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080526/skydiver_freefall_080527/20080527?hub=CanadaAM
Michel Fournier's record skydiving project failed today (Tuesday May 27th 2008), because the balloon left the capsule with Fournier behind. Source: http://www.i4u.com/article17593.html