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The Tech Behind Felix Baumgartner's Stratospheric Skydive
MrSeb writes "Felix Baumgartner has successfully completed his stratospheric skydive from 128,000 feet (39km), breaking a record that was set 52 years ago by Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger — that much we know. From the balloon, to the capsule, to the gear that Baumgartner wore during his 730 mph (1174 kph) free fall, the technology behind the scenes is impressive, and in some cases bleeding edge. ExtremeTech takes a deep dive into the tech that kept Baumgartner alive during the three-hour ascent and (much shorter) descent — and the tech that allowed us to watch every moment of the Red Bull Stratos mission live, as captured by no less than 15 digital cameras and numerous other scientific instruments."
1. Figure out a cool project
2. Find a sponsor
3. Take one step to skydive from 128,000 ft
4. Profit
There is a fail-safe which could have deployed the main shoot if he had been moving at more than 115 feet (35 meters) per second at 2,000 feet (610 meters) or less altitude.
You know, the parashoot. Idiots.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
He was not the first to parachute faster than the speed of sound. He was the first to do so voluntarily. Of the first two people to do this, one of them died in the air. Not an easy feat.
Let's not forget all the Aussie stories plastered over Slashdot whenever certain "editors" are in charge..
Aussie refers to Australian. Felix is Austrian
Indeed, during the press conference the following figures were stated at least twice:
Exit altitude: 128100 ft (39045m) [record]
Free fall time: 4m 20s
Free fall distance: 119826 ft (36529m)
Max velocity: 373 m/s (1342.8 km/h, 833.9 mph, Mach 1.24) [record]
A third record would be the maximum distance of ascent with a human-occupied balloon, which may exceed the 39045m of exit altitude, as the balloon appeared to descend somewhat before Baumgartner exited. Actually, if the telemetry information displayed on the feed can be trusted then he reached at least 39068m (128177 ft) at the time that he was first sticking his feet out into the open.
No matter the numbers, this is an impressive achievement!
--Udo.
.
A molecule of hydrogen is made up of 2 hydrogen atoms. A molecule of helium is made up of 1 helium atom. "2 times 1" is half of "1 times 4".
I come here for the love
Did you read abou this on Fox News by any chance? You obviously didn't watch the actual footage.
Felix stabilised the spin manually WELL before deploying his parachute.
They had a drogue chute ready to help stabilise the spin if it was required but he didn't use it because it could have prevented him from reaching Mach speed.
If he HAD deployed his main parachute while in an uncontrollable spin it is VERY UNLIKELY that it would have deployed properly, much more likely he would have remained in a spin, not so fast but with his body mass further away from the centre of rotation and hence still massive G forces.
Yes, it was. At those altitudes, the only thing to prevent spins would be a gas reaction system like satellites use. Aka, vent gas out of pressurized bottles to counter-act unwanted spin. Having those on his suit would have added a ton of weight, and precluded him wanting to do this in just a pressure suit. There's no air or anything to allow him to do it himself. That's why when he jumped, he tried to be as still as possible. Even while spinning, the idea was not to move or react. Just wait until you hit enough atmosphere that you can move your body to stabilize yourself with the drag. When he started tumbling, I was screaming for him to hit the atmosphere and be able to stabilize himself. Then he did, and once that happened I knew that he had it nailed.
What about gravity?
Gravity doesn't really exist. It's actually Intelligent Pushing, where an external all-powerful creator stretches his invisible arm out to make sure that nobody floats off the Earth, or falls off its edge.
John
As both Helium and Hydrogen are much lighter than air, the difference in buoyancy between the 2 is only about 8%
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game
When Joe Kittinger jumped for Excelsior in the '50s and '60s, he was testing the feasibilty high-altitude escape systems. He succeeded, and in the process, set some very impressive and rather durable records. Stratos was a not-very-subtle ad-funded stunt show. There's real science being done but I have little doubt that it's ultimately in service to the sponsor (also Austrian).
Whether or not Red Bull spent two years and who knows how much, why isn't this still one of the coolest things to happen in some time? Watching him stand there with the curvature of Earth below him is one of those things that makes me jealous. And there are some things being tested - newer versions of the high-alt suits and maybe more.
However, I'm a little annoyed about people thinking that now astronauts and such can use suits like Felix's to escape bad situations in space. Felix jumped more or less straight down with almost no lateral velocity. Someone BASE-jumping from ISS may pull some staggering free-fall numbers (greater height for 9.8 (m/s)^2) but those won't likely compare to the 11,000 mph they're already moving parallel with the surface just to maintain orbit. Toasty!
Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
Baumgartner achieved speed of sound 'autonomously' without first sitting in a high-speed jet but by freefalling. All other examples are of pilots ejecting from a high-speed airplane, going over Mach using an engine. So while what you say is correct, I would rather emphasize the "freefall" versus "engine-powered" part :)
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