| Author | Message | ||
     Sifo |
I don't see where this has any impact on how high we can "bailout". From an air/space craft I presume. The whole idea of flying at these altitudes is speed. That makes any bailout completely different than jumping from a balloon. There are far more challenging things involved in this than a few minutes of life support in a pressurized suit if you really want to consider exiting a craft at over mach 1. I will admit to mild amusement with this. Kind of like Steve Fossett breaking records with a balloon. It's an interesting stunt, but does little to advance useful knowledge. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Red Bull - Darwin for professionals. | ||
| Aesquire |
Nasa is very interested. Not so much in the record, but in the results of the dive. Several people have been supersonic outside an airplane, when they ejected going that fast. It usually hurts. A lot. No one has been proven to break the barrier in free fall. Propelled by gravity alone. Just staying alive in that hostile an environment is a challenge, and many people have failed. I've jumped out of a balloon. Freaky. When you jump out of a cessna, you are already going 70 or so, and only have to accelerate to about 120 to hit terminal velocity. At terminal, you no longer feel like you are falling because you are at a steady speed. ( all speeds aprox, depending on body position, and at altitudes under 12K. You can hit over 200 in a "dive" while under 10k. ) From a balloon, you just act like an anvil. Serious falling sensation, until you reach terminal, and the wind force balances the gravity. No control, at all, until you build up some speed and get some airflow. Humans are lousy airplanes. From over 100k? 30+ seconds of anvil? The problem is that it is easy to go into a spin, and the g forces can kill you, or render you unconscious very quickly. How the possible supersonic shockwaves interact with arms & legs is unknown as well. Actual scientists are interested is seeing how it all works out, and he's got a lot of sensors going to help with that. Plus, of course, he's crazy and it's a grand stunt. | ||
| Aesquire |
Hoot, the last guy to try this messed up the pre-breathing, ( to purge as much nitrogen as possible to prevent bends ) and they think he opened his own visor at altitude. Can't ask him, he's dead. There is some interesting work on space suits at some universities, but NASA's suits suck. The ones this guys wearing is fragile, dangerous, and in some ways better than the Shuttle crew has. NASA's suits really suck. | ||
| Sifo |
How the possible supersonic shockwaves interact with arms & legs is unknown as well. Actual scientists are interested is seeing how it all works out, and he's got a lot of sensors going to help with that. That's the part of this that I find interesting. How will the human body hold up to the shock waves. It took a lot of engineering and experimentation to build aircraft that could go supersonic without being destroyed. I don't think the human form is better designed for that than early jets. Of course it doesn't sound like they really plan on exceeding the speed of sound. Just planning on reaching out and giving it a tickle. | ||
| Sifo |
Hoot, the last guy to try this messed up the pre-breathing, ( to purge as much nitrogen as possible to prevent bends ) and they think he opened his own visor at altitude. Can't ask him, he's dead. You get the bends from going to high to low pressure. This stunt takes him from low to high pressure. Seems to me that the only risk of the bends is from a suit that fails. Pre-breathing isn't going to help much with those problems. It would also be easier and far more effective to control the nitrogen in your system by controlling the mix of gasses being used in the suit. I'm curious where this info came from. It's been a few decades since I've been through my diver training, but I think I still have the basics straight. | ||
| Aesquire |
On the "speed of sound". The speed depends on humidity, pressure and temperature. Substitute altitude for pressure and you can figure that it's slower at higher altitude. It quits counting as supersonic when the air is so thin that the impact of individual molecules dominates over aerodynamic flow. That's how it is up with the ISS. Sure it's doing "mach 25", sorta, but it doesn't measure or act that way. It's just drag. Also, blunt objects are how we do supersonic, high supersonic, on re-entry, because the shape, and the near vacuum it creates, changes the way the heat gets into the capsule. Pointy things are easier to make go fast in the first place, but have all that skin friction. Blunt things are harder to make go fast, slow down faster, but make a bubble where the plasma of hypersonic flight hopefully doesn't fry you. | ||
| Aesquire |
Sifo, the prebreathing is because the suit doesn't keep him at sea level pressure. He will be breathing pure oxygen at reduced pressure to cut down on the pressure differential when at altitude. ( to reduce the suit's tendency to "starfish" him and let him use his arms and legs. ) I assume the life support pack will try and keep a minimum pressure, to keep him alive and allow the internal pressure to rise as he descends. ( or he won't be able to breath as the suit crushes him. ) | ||
| Aesquire |
Then there's going the other way..... American private enterprise, doing it right, doing it better. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/08/spacex_fal co_flameout/print.html works even when it breaks. | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
the suit is carefully regulated according to the prees releases etc. 3.5psi is what he'll have at altitude. which i read somewhere is roughly the same as either 35k or 55k ft i can't recall. so yes on the decent he will be going up in pressure but on the ascent the pressure will be dropping, thus making the bends a possibility. i'm very interested to see how the body can/will adapt to gradually building up speed f sound via gravity vs instant insertion into a supersonic slip stream via ejection. i would imagine that the more gradual approach offered by gravity will be more pleasant but the pressure wave etc and their effects on extremities will be i think the thing to really watch if he does in fact go super sonic during his free fall | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
Dear Hootowl "Is everything personal with you Mr. Owens? Odd, given that you won't tell us your first name. Seems rather...impersonal" I am unclear why you think I took your posts personal, rereading my posts I dont see it. I have nothing to do with this fall, nor have I ever even tasted a redbull, so not a fan of the company. I was pointing out how you used a saying incorrectly and that I find it foolish to think that 'if we cant learn from it then who cares' sort of attitude. The Mysterious Mr Owens  | ||
| Hootowl |
"Also, you COULD care less? Or are you not bright enough to figure out the real saying" That was a cheap personal insult that did nothing to further the discussion. I don't go around correcting people's spelling or grammar, (and it is rampant) so I'm uncertain as to why you feel the need to correct me. My incorrect usage of the phrase must have been Freudian, as I found that I do care a little, so I could indeed care less. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Oooh, is it going to be handbags at dawn ladies?  | ||
| Pwnzor |
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| Hootowl |
Let me get my panties unstuck, and I'll be all right. I've got $5 on the cat on the left. | ||
| 86129squids |
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| Luftkoph |
what did sir Ed say because it's there | ||
| 46champ |
He is on his way passing thru 72,000 ft as I type. | ||
| Sifo |
He's about to prove that gravity works! | ||
| Just_ziptab |
122,000 feet! Getting ready to jump shortly. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
When Einstein and his wife visited the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, Mrs. Einstein pointed to a particularly complex piece of equipment and asked its purpose. Their guide said that it was used to determine the shape of the universe. "Oh," she said, not at all impressed, "my husband uses the back of an old envelope to work that out." | ||
| 01x1buell |
wow, freakin awesome, but scary as shit to be up there.. | ||
| 01x1buell |
729 MPH wow | ||
| 01x1buell |
and he is on the ground safely!!!!  | ||
| Ulynut |
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! !!! | ||
| Aesquire |
And.. the music video is up! | ||
| 46champ |
That was great watched from 65,000 ft up. He is now the record holder for Highest manned balloon flight, highest altitude to make a parachute jump from, fastest speed in free fall, most altitude lost in free fall. Kittenger will still hold the record for most time spent in free fall in one jump. It will be interesting to find out if he broke the speed of sound. I hope so. Glad I watched it. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
He may or may not have exceeded "the speed of sound" but he certainly exceeded Mach 1. I know, it's hair splitting. Well done to the fella, glad he made it back in one piece. | ||
| Rich |
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| Sifo |
They did prove one thing. I didn't hear him scream! |
