23 mile skydive!

Freefaller

Freefaller

Freefaller

Man of Honour
Joined
5 Jun 2003
Posts
91,578
Location
Falling...
Has anybody heard of Felix Baumgartner?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16908004

It's something that I would love to do (obviously had I had more training and still kept up my skydiving hobby).

I just can't imagine anything more exciting. Edge of space, seeing the curvature of the earth, and falling with no atmosphere around you... with the potential of breaking the sound barrier.

I've jumped out of hot air balloons, but that was only from about 4000ft, so whilst you do get that sense of serenity and quiet as you fall, you only fall for about 10-15 seconds or so.

Having minutes of freefall, hitting thicker atmosphere and seeing the world from space almost face to face and not within an aircraft - it's just something that I am in awe of. Cannot wait for the jump!
 
DJMK4 said:
Wow, Joseph Kittinger's 19mile sky dive looked epic, this should be awsome :), plus with modern capture equipment the video should be a cracker

What an achievement this will be if he does it
Click to expand...

Exactly - the capture of Kittinger's fall was incredible - I can't wait to see the modern version.
 
Tikkabhuna said:
I swear this has been called out as false by loads of scientists?
Click to expand...

If you put water in a pressurised environment and let the pressure out you can actually see the water bubble. Our blood is no different, furthermore, if you get the nitrogen bubbles expanding in your blood, you're going to be in a bad state.

Kittinger lost the use of his right hand as a result of exposure. Still managed to open his chute though!

DJMK4 said:
Freefaller, what sort of altitude do you think he would open up the shute at? I think the last one was something like 18,000, 19,000ft, was this a "safe" choice, or do you think you could get away with going further, say around 11,000ft?
Click to expand...

Well I don't know the technology they'll use, they could do it like tandem parachutes, and deploy a small "drogue" chute to stabilise the fall and to bright the speed down, and have a multi staged deployment system. Obviously the longer he is in atmosphere the more he'll slow down, however he'll have limited oxygen. Ideally you don't want to be above 18,000ft for too long as you'll go into oxygen starvation fairly quickly with the adrenaline and effort his body will be under. At high altitudes he'll be travelling a lot quicker than his terminal velocity at 15,000 feet for example.

The time I usually deployed was around 2,500-3,000 feet. However that was at around 100-120mph, with thick atmosphere.

The problem is if you're going too fast you'll either rip the material (rare) or ping some of the lines. I doubt he'll use a square chute - but I could be wrong.

I might actually ask on some of my skydiving forums and see if anyone has any further info. He'll have to slow down though to a fairly pedestrian speed, probably around 150-200mph before deploying. At what altitude this happens I couldn't tell you. However he'll want to get to a breathable altitude ASAP and if he deploys too high he might run out of air :(

DJMK4 said:
anyone know if there is an official twitter feed for this?

One I have found seems to be out of data (Oct 2010 with the last tweet saying "The Red Bull Stratos project has been stopped immediately due to a lawsuit".
Click to expand...

I think he's got a blog:

http://felixbaumgartner.com/index.php?id=8

Might be something on there. :)


Excellent links there Simulatorman :cool:

As for when - I guess it's when they finish testing. I hope it'll be this year though!
 
Meridian said:
My understanding that the hand injury was purely down to cold. And you don't get the bends from dropping to vacuum because there isn't enough of a pressure differential. The partial pressure of the nitrogen isn't enough to get it out of solution. The only danger of a suit breach is asphyxia due to oxygen starvation. And cold-related issues. Your body will freeze long before your blood boils. And is it me, or has this jump been "imminent" for years now?


M
Click to expand...

Yeah I remember it being talked about ages ago. Hopefully it's getting closer to the day!

Evangelion said:
Seems OK in the video. He's waving it about like a spare willy at a willy-waving contest.

:confused:
Click to expand...

Just going by what the article said. :)
 
Thanks for posting the update, saves me doing it! :D

From what I've read in blogs and other forums the capsule does come back to ground... I'd have thought it would be too expensive otherwise?!
 
Burnsy - after nearly 8 years of having the other one I'm sure you'll get used to it! (I browse with Avatars off anyway ;)).

4T5 - agreed, so much serenity and beauty from that height, and the speed and experience that he will go through is just incredible. Heck, even from my heighest jump (24,000ft) the view and the feeling was incredible. I can only imagine what it'd be like from up there!
 
"andy" said:
just me who's sad to see kittengers record go ? the man did something so so amazing and that so few people know about until now when this attempt has grabbed the media
Click to expand...

Well Kittenger has held the record and the accolade for decades, he will still be in the history books - I think it's a great evolution of the stunt :)

A lot of people know about Kittenger (well those around my circle of friends) so we were all very excited when this new record attempt came about. With new recording equipment too it'll be able to capture so much amazing detail and experience!

Scon said:
Changing body position to reduce drag i guess?
Click to expand...

Indeed. Falling "flat" I can modulate my speed from about 100-140 (sometimes even as low as 90) depending on my body position. Id I want to go very fast, I'll go head down, and that's how I breached 200mph.

At that altitude there will be less air resistance/atmosphere and as such will be able to hit a higher speed.
 
Thanks for the post Sim - saves me having to do it! :D It really makes me want to get back into it again... but I'd never get the chance to do that! So jealous!


King Damager said:
Presumably he'll easily hit terminal velocity. Am surprised that terminal velocity is greater than Supersonic though o.O

kd
Click to expand...

You hit terminal velocity every jump - that's just the maximum speed you're able to fall at, where the force opposing equals the force pulling you towards to the ground. :)

At those altitudes the air resistance will be little to none, almost vacuum-like, and so breaking the sound barrier is entirely feasible.

EdGey said:
Would you be able to control yourself with no air resistance? Or would it be a case of float randomly until you get some air around you.
Click to expand...

Not really. I've only jumped from a hot air balloon/helicopter which mimics the first few seconds of what he's doing - i.e. you're falling too slow to have any air resistance and just building up speed initially. Except for him, he'll be in the state for a lot longer, he'll hit atmosphere fairly quickly though, and from that point on, moving in the air is very easy - you can slow down, speed up, move forwards, backwards, slide left and right - however in his suit, his movement will be limited but he should still have some form of control.
 
haha! Can you imagine the news? UFO spotted above the UK, strong garlic smell, with a faint odour of cheese. Approach with caution, believed to be a sex pest. Easily distracted by way of lumps of iron and firm glutei maximi. :D
 
Couldn't agree more Dowie - the previous record has stood for such a long time it's amazing really that it's taken this long for it to come under threat of being beaten.
 
I don't have a big allowance on my phone contract, but sod it, I will be happy to use it up to watch this... :cool:

Might see if I can pop to a cafe to watch it though. I've been waiting too long for this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom