Students' Experiments To Fly By Glider To the Edge of Space

techmage writes: In 2002 Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson set the altitude record for a glider climbing to 42,000 feet in the Perlan I. This year the Perlan II glider will attempt to reach over 90,000 feet. Carried aboard will be be 10 science experiments from students participating in a Teachers in Space contest. Some of these experiments push the boundaries of what can be done at the K-12 level. This news article has a lot more detail on what these kids are sending.

Comments

Where will the speed come from?

[Viol8]

I can't see from the article or the wonkypedia page where they expect to get enough speed from to retain that sort of altitude. They mention carried aloft by air currents (mountain waves). Err , even assuming those currents will get you to 90K feet (I doubt it) they're not going to get you to the 200-300 knots (heavier U-2 need to do 370 but it was "only" at 70K feet) you'll need to maintain that altitude without them guys. So unless by "gliding" they simply mean falling fast from height until they hit another updraft then to me this seems a bit of a non starter.

Re:Where will the speed come from?

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's assume that somebody involved has done some sums, looked at previous comparable attempts, and deduced that it's at theoretically possible, shall we? Airbus and Windward Performance do actually know a thing or two about the subject, and it wouldn't have got this far if it was pointless, so I think I'll take their opinion over some random guy on the internet.

Saftey & Planning

[ebonum]

I'm a licensed pilot. If I was preparing to fly a glider twice as high as the previous record, I'm not sure I would want anything on my plane not 100% required for my flight. The first concern is weight. The second concern is that I really don't need anything extra to worry about. There are already enough risks involved. I'm not an expert on the flight envelops for gliders at this kind of altitude, but I'm going to guess that the plane will be at the knife edge between stalling and over speed. Gliders at 10,000 feet on a hot summer day get bounced around. A lot. They have shoulder straps for a reason. Storms have been known to remove their wings. Where there is powerful rising air, falling air can't be too far away. At 70, 80, 90,000 feet, a plane with huge, long wings might struggle to deal with the air currents.

An unmanned balloon can hit 90,000 feet and carry a small payload. There are other ways to get these experiments to the edge of space.

Re:The only creed I need is

[camperdave]

The edge of space is 328,000 feet (100km). They're only going up 90,000 feet. That's less than a third of the way. "Oh, look! I'm on the second floor. I'm on the edge of space!"