Written by Sage Cheshire, David Clark Co. And Flightline Films at the Space Technology Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. May 8,9, and 10.
45-foot paper airplane glides over Arizona desert
By Deborah Netburn March 23, 2012, 11:59 a.m.
Cheers to the Pima Air & Space Museum for flying what might be the largest paper airplane ever constructed over the Arizona desert earlier this week.
The plane, dubbed Arturo’s Desert Eagle, was 45 feet long with a 24-foot wingspan and weighed in at a whopping 800 pounds.
It was built as part of the museum’s Giant Paper Airplane Project, designed to get kids psyched about aviation and engineering.
After a few false starts, the plane was towed into the sky above the Sonoran desert on Wednesday afternoon by a Sikorsky S58T helicopter.
The design team was hoping to get the monster paper airplane up to 4,000 or 5,000 feet before letting it loose, but due to wind conditions, the helicopter pilot decided to set it free at 2,703 feet.
It was still able to glide at speeds of close to 100 mph for 7 to 10 seconds before stress on the tail caused it to hurdle to the ground.
“It didn’t fare too well as an end game,” Tim Vimmerstedt, a spokesperson for the Pima Air & Space Museum told The Times. “It really is a crumbled mess.”
The plane was constructed of layers of falcon board, which Vimmerstedt described as a type of corrugated cardboard, similar to a pizza box.
The plane was designed and built in Lancaster by Art Thompson, who helped design the B-2 stealth bomber, but the design was based on a paper airplane folded by 12-year-old Tucson resident Arturo Valdenegro—winner of a paper airplane fly-off sponsored by the Pima Air & Space Museum in January.
In a video interview with the museum on the day of the launch, Valdenegro said before the Great Paper Airplane Project he thought that he might puruse a career in engineering, but after meeting Thompson and seeing his plane realized in giant size, he now knows he’s going to be an engineer when he grows up.
For the musuem, that’s the real mission accomplished.
Read Article on Los Angeles Times
Red Bull Stratos Manned Test Jump from 71,581 Feet
Red Bull Stratos Manned Test Jump from 71,581 Feet
The 71,581-foot manned test jump marked the first test of the balloon, capsule and pilot – Felix Baumgartner – in flight.
Preliminary Statistics (currently under review for verification by the Fédéeration Aéronautique Internationale):
Launch time and location: March 15, 2012, 08:10 a.m., at Roswell, New Mexico, USA
- Baumgartner jumped from the capsule at an altitude of: 71,581 feet
- The balloon and capsule took one hour and 34 minutes to complete the ascent
- Baumgartner accelerated to a maximum speed of 364.4 mph
- He spent 3 minutes and 33 seconds) in freefall before pulling his parachute at 7,890 feet
- The pilot landed safely in the desert at 09:50 a.m., about 30 miles from the original launch site
Significance of 71,581 feet
The height was selected for the first manned test because it provides a genuine stratospheric experience beyond the Armstrong Line – the region beginning around 63,000ft where the atmospheric pressure is so low that bodily fluids start to ‘boil’ at the normal temperature of a human body (98.6 °F).
Location
The test was conducted at Roswell, New Mexico, so as to rehearse the launch procedure at the same site selected for the final jump from 120,000ft. The region boasts excellent weather conditions and availability of leading-edge launch resources.
Procedure
The previous evening the Red Bull Stratos team received final safety and weather briefings. Meteorologist Don Day gave the go-ahead that the dawn ‘weather window’ was suitable for an attempted launch: relatively clear skies and calm winds
During the next eight hours, the capsule was positioned in its cradle on the launch crane, the runway cleared of small debris and the balloon laid out on a vast tarp to protect it from tearing
The balloon itself, with a capacity of 1.22 million cubic feet, was significantly smaller than the final mission balloon as it was required to a lower altitude. It weighed 937lbs
Shortly before dawn, balloon inflation began
Baumgartner was suited up and began pre-breathing oxygen to eliminate nitrogen from his blood before he was sealed inside the pressurized capsule
With balloon inflation complete, the capsule lifted off the tarmac to begin its ascent
As expected, the decrease in air pressure as the balloon ascended caused the helium in the balloon to expand to its fully inflated dimensions of 127 feet high and 142 feet in diameter
Once the ascent was completed, Felix ran through his 39-step safety checklist before manually depressurizing the capsule, sliding open the round door and stepping off the external platform
Baumgartner continued in freefall until he reached the optimum height to deploy his parachute and float safely back to earth
Upon landing he was met by the retrieval team, medical checks were conducted, and he was returned to the launch site via helicopter
Once he had been safely retrieved, Mission Control triggered the release of the capsule from the balloon, and both returned slowly to Earth to be collected by the recovery team for evaluation
Hazards
Although 71,581 feet is a stepping-stone to Felix’s final target altitude, the test presented numerous challenges. The normal ceiling for skydiving is less than 15,000 feet.
Potential dangers:
Rapid acceleration and high speed while in freefall – Felix had to ensure he did not go into an uncontrollable spin during freefall
Crash impact in the capsule – the first thousand feet of ascent were critical because if the balloon had failed, neither the capsule nor Felix’s personal parachute would have had time to deploy effectively
Lack of oxygen – during the majority of the trajectory, the surrounding environment contained too little oxygen to sustain human life
Low pressure – without the pressurization provided by the capsule and suit, Felix may have experience life-threatening decompression sickness
Low temperatures – the temperatures Felix experienced in the stratosphere were as cold as anything he’s likely to encounter in his final jump: down to minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit
BIOGRAPHY ART THOMPSON
Red Bull Stratos Technical Project Director
Art Thompson possesses more than 30 years of experience in innovating leading-edge design that has produced major breakthroughs in aerospace history, including development of the B-2 “Stealth” bomber.
As technical project director for Red Bull Stratos, Art drives engineering program management and has also been responsible for selecting and assembling the global mission team and securing equipment and facilities. He is Felix Baumgartner’s right-hand man and earliest collaborator.
A California native, Art studied engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles and also attended the University of La Verne and Northrop University. While working for Northrop Corporation in the late 1970s, he and a small contingent of engineers (working under Dr. John Cashen and Fred Oshira and using an original design concept by Irv Waaland) brainstormed ideas and methods for military aircraft that could avoid radar detection. The Northrop team went from drawing napkin sketches and conceptualizing ideas and shapes to conceiving the design that the Department of Defense chose to develop into the B-2 Spirit.
Today Art is vice president of Sage Cheshire Aerospace, Inc. which he co-founded in Lancaster, California, more than 10 years ago. The company provides solutions for a complete range of aerospace needs, from initial design and engineering to finished product, with an experienced team of professionals hand-picked by Art himself.
Art is instrumental in coordinating the efforts of the global mission team to meet all production, testing and implementation milestones. Further, his Sage Cheshire crew is responsible for the design, construction and testing of Felix’s capsule, and the facility serves as the hub of mission technological development overall.
RED BULL STRATOS BALLOON
Type: The balloon is filled with helium to create lift. Helium is non-flammable, non-toxic if vented to the atmosphere and a safe, predictable method of ascent.
Material: It is constructed of strips of high-performance polyethylene (plastic) film that is only 0.0008 inches thick. In total, these strips would cover 40 acres if they were laid flat. Polyester-fibre reinforced load tapes are incorporated to do the weight bearing.
Size, volume and shape: The balloon for Felix’s mission from the edge of space will be nearly 30 million cubic feet in capacity – 10 times larger than Joe Kittinger’s balloon in 1960.
At launch, it will be tall and thin, stretching 55 stories high. As the balloon ascends, the helium will expand and the balloon will slowly fill out to an almost completely round shape:
- Length of uninflated balloon before launch: 592.41 feet
- Height of balloon at take-off: 550 feet
- The height from the top of the balloon to bottom of the capsule will be: 695 feet
- Size of balloon at 120,000 feet: Height 334.82 feet / Diameter: 424.37 feet
Weight: The uninflated balloon weighs 3,708 pounds
INFLATION AND LAUNCH INFRASTRUCTURE
Helium is delivered on two large trucks. Another truck with a “launch arm” restraint holds down a portion of the balloon during inflation. At launch, the arm moves out of the way to allow the balloon to ascend. Simultaneously, a large crane drives in to position the capsule under the balloon. The crane releases the capsule, the balloon lifts it off the crane, and the ascent begins.
OTHER INFORMATION
Was the balloon specially developed for the Red Bull Stratos mission?
The balloon is a standard design utilizing principles and materials that have been refined over 60 years of high-altitude scientific balloon flights.
Are there hazards associated with helium balloon flight?
Balloons are susceptible to wind, which can literally tear them – particularly at critical times.
- Take-off, when difficulties due to weather or other factors could drag the capsule across the ground or cause a sudden dangerous drop in height. If a problem occurred below 1,000 feet, there would not be enough time to deploy a personal or capsule parachute.
- Ascent through the troposphere (30,000 to 60,000 feet), where turbulence is common.
- Float altitude (top altitude), where low air pressure will cause the helium to expand so much that if the excess cannot escape through the balloon’s vent tubes, it will burst. Helium inflation quantities are carefully calculated to avoid this.
How long does it take to inflate the balloon?
The overall launch process for this kind of balloon requires approximately 8 hours of preparation immediately before launch, including about 45 to 60 minutes for insertion of the helium.
How big is the launch crew?
The balloon launch crew itself is about 12 to 15 people, all of whom must wear clothing that won’t snag the balloon. A number of individuals will clear the runway of fine debris before laying out the balloon. Fewer than 10 people actually handle the balloon, and those who do wear cotton gloves.
Why does a helium balloon rise?
Helium is lighter than air. If the balloon is large enough in relation to the weight of its payload, the helium will ascend and bring the payload with it.
How fast will the balloon ascend?
The balloon will ascend at about 1,000 meters per minute. At some points, its ascent could be as fast as 1,400 feet per minute. Upon reaching about 100,000 feet, however, it will likely slow to roughly 750 feet per minute until it levels off at approximately 120,000 feet above sea level.
How is the balloon steered?
Wind is used to direct a balloon’s trajectory. Wind speed and direction vary at different altitudes so balloons are steered by changing altitude to reach the desired wind conditions. Releasing helium causes a decrease in altitude, while dropping ballast allows a balloon to rise.
How does the balloon avoid other aircraft in the sky?
The balloon will be tracked by the mission team while in the air. The mission team coordinates closely with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to obtain clearance for flight and special reflective tape is incorporated into the seams so that it can be seen on radar.
Felix’s target altitude is described as “float altitude.” What is that?
Float altitude is the point at which the balloon levels off and stops ascending. Although helium is lighter than air, at higher altitudes air density is reduced. Float altitude is reached when the average density of the balloon is the same as the density of the surrounding atmosphere.
What happens to the balloon after Felix jumps?
After Felix has landed, Mission Control will trigger the separation of the capsule and balloon, so that the capsule can descend under its parachute. A nylon “destruct line” will release the helium so that the balloon returns to Earth. Then, the team will gather the envelope into a large truck, a process that can take several hours.
Is the same balloon being used repeatedly for tests, as well as the final mission?
No. The test balloons are smaller than the almost 30 million cubic foot balloon used for the ascent to 120,000 feet. None of these delicate balloons can be re-used. In fact, once Felix’s balloon is even taken out of its box it must be launched promptly or discarded.
Who is responsible for launching the balloon?
ATA Aerospace provides the balloon launch services, personnel and equipment for Red Bull Stratos. Key personnel on the ATA team include crew chief Ed Coca, meteorologist Don Dayand project lead Tracy Gerber. A joint venture of Albuquerque-based Applied Technology Associates and ASRC Aerospace, ATA Aerospace offers the expertise of an extensive history in large-scale balloon launches, including serving as the prime contractor on the AFRL Space Technology Research, Analysis, Integration and Test (STRAIT) contract. On this contract, ATA Aerospace provides the program management; engineering services; integration, test, and launch support; on-orbit support; and test facility operations and management for satellite and high-altitude systems and subsystems including buses and payloads. For more information:www.aptec.com
LAUNCH TIMELINE
The best weather conditions for balloon launch usually occur at dawn. Here is an approximate timeline.
Launch minus 8 hours
After a weather and safety briefing, the team inspects the equipment and communications systems, then pulls the boxed balloon and equipment out of the hangar while a separate crew works to clear the runway of dirt, debris and other objects. The capsule and balloon are delivered to the launch area on a cleared runway. More checks and re-verifications are conducted.
Launch minus 4:30 hours
Crew Chief contacts Mission Control for permission to lay out the flight train components. Balloon is laid out on a layer of Herculite. Then balloon, parachute and capsule are connected.
Launch minus 2:45 hours
Layout of flight train is complete.
Launch minus 2:15 hours
Balloon’s helium valves are rechecked and verified.
Launch minus 1:15 hours
All capsule checks are complete.
Launch minus 1:00 hours
Crew chief contacts meteorologist and requests permission to begin inflation.
Launch minus 0:55 hours
Inflation begins.
Launch minus 0:30 hours
Felix is sealed in capsule which is cradled on a crane and pressurization begins.
Launch minus 0:10 hours
Inflation is complete.
Launch minus 0:05 hours
Crew chief inspects the entire flight train and removes all safety restraints
Launch minus 0:01 hours
Balloon bubble is released from launch arm.
LAUNCH
As the balloon rises, the crane bearing the capsule drives rapidly down the runway to meet it. The crane releases the capsule when it’s vertical with the balloon. The balloon lifts the capsule off the crane and the ascent begins.
Baumgartner passes test through death zones
Austria’s Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a space capsule from an altitude of approximately 71,580 feet as the Red Bull Stratos project moved forward into the manned flight stage in New Mexico. The 42-year-old rode the space capsule attached to a giant helium balloon above the so-called “Armstrong Line.”
ROSWELL (New Mexico) – At precisely 9:50 a.m., Felix Baumgartner landed with his parachute in the New Mexico desert nearly 30 miles away from Roswell, wearing a spacesuit as he safely completed a journey towards the edge of space. Just 1 hour and 40 minutes earlier the extreme athlete from Austria had lifted off from Roswell on board a space capsule attached to a 165-foot-high helium balloon that brought him to an altitude of nearly 71,580 feet.
The goal of this expedition towards the edge of space was to fly over the so-called “Armstrong Line” and to do tests under real conditions for the first time. That is the area in aerospace where earthly boundaries and laws disappear. It is an inhospitable region for humans where liquids begin to vaporize and temperatures plunge to minus 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Humans could not survive in this zone without a spacesuit to protect them from the forces of depressurization and lack of oxygen. To get there, Baumgartner first had to make it through another “death zone” closer to earth. During the first 1,000 feet of his ascent there would be no chance of escape in the event of a crash because there would be no time to get out of the capsule or open the parachute.
The ascent and his exit from the capsule went exactly as planned. Baumgartner plunged back towards earth at a speed of nearly 365 miles per hour. He said later the most difficult part was the extreme cold he encountered. “I could hardly move my hands. We’re going to have to do some work on that aspect,” he said. The Austrian added that he also needs to work on getting accustomed to the extraordinary dimensions of space. “I wanted to open the parachute after descending for a while, but I noticed that I was still at an altitude of 50,000 feet,” he said.
Even though it was only a test jump for his forthcoming leap from an altitude of nearly 23 miles, Baumgartner still managed to make it into the record books. He became only the third person to leap from that altitude and survive. The only people to successfully jump from greater heights were Russia’s Eugene Andreev and American Joseph Kittinger, both of whom accomplished their feats in the 1960s. Kittinger, a living legend now 83 years old, is serving as a mentor for the Red Bull Stratos project and was heading Baumgartner’s test flight from Mission Control in Roswell. Kittinger is on the team of nearly 100 top experts recruited from the fields of science, medicine and aerospace for the mission. Technical director Art Thompson was involved with the construction of the Stealth Bomber, and medical director Dr. Jon Clark served as the crew surgeon for six Space Shuttle flights.
The test demonstrated that not only did the capsule system function exactly as planned, but the giant stratospheric balloon did as well, as balloon launch director Ed Coca confirmed. The delicate giant, which was inflated with helium in the early morning hours, was remotely deflated after Baumgartner’s descent, exactly as planned. The space capsule that Baumgartner had been riding in was detached from the balloon with an explosive device, descended under a parachute and later landed undamaged in the desert.
“This test serves as the perfect motivation for the team for the next step,” said Baumgartner, flashing a wide smile after two previous attempts to launch the test earlier this week had to be scrubbed. The conditions in the New Mexico desert will be too windy in the weeks ahead, making it impossible to launch this kind of balloon. After the seasonally windy conditions pass, there will be another test from the altitude of 90,000 feet before Baumgartner and the team will attempt to break the record later this year.
Editor’s Notes:
Red Bull Stratos Newsroom: Media content will be updated regularly. To download all available media materials visit: www.RedBullStratosnewsroom.com
BBC Documentary: An exclusive, all-access documentary about the Red Bull Stratos project is being produced by the BBC together with National Geographic. The feature-length film will premiere on the BBC in the UK and National Geographic Channel in the US following the jump. It will be aired across the rest of the world soon after. The 90-minute documentary about Red Bull Stratos is being globally licensed and distributed to broadcasters by BBC Worldwide. Broadcasters interested in the BBC documentary should visit www.bbcworldwide.com for more details.
Red Bull Stratos Media Contacts:
Trish Medalen
Email: trish@redbullstratos.com
Tel (California, USA): +1 415.302.1400
Red Bull Stratos unveils capsule for voyage to edge of space
The Red Bull Stratos science team has confirmed that the capsule delivering Austrian sportsman Felix Baumgartner to the edge of space for his record-breaking freefall attempt is mission ready. Attached to a helium balloon, the capsule – which took five years to develop and weighs 2,900 pounds fully loaded – will act as Baumgartner’s life support system during his nearly three-hour ascent to 120,000 feet.
ROSWELL, New Mexico (United States) – Strapped into a chair custom made for his space suit, he’ll face a control panel of 89 switches and one clear round door. While that door gives Baumgartner the best view in the stratosphere, it also puts just half an inch of acrylic between him and the edge of space. When he rolls it open 23 miles above the Earth, he will exit and attempt to become the first person to break the speed of sound in freefall.
Suspended 150 feet below a balloon, the capsule will protect Baumgartner from stratospheric temperatures reaching minus 70 Fahrenheit and offer a stable oxygenated and pressurized environment during the ascent so he has air to breathe and can avoid decompression sickness. The craft will also act as a stable base for his step-off into freefall.
The hostile environment presents a daunting challenge to the electronics, radio communications and camera systems vital to the capsule’s operation. Led by Art Thompson, the mission’s technical project director, the craft was designed and hand-constructed at Sage Cheshire Aerospace, Inc. in Lancaster, California. Leading minds in aerospace engineering collaborated to produce a vessel capable of completing its mission as well as capturing valuable scientific data to advance aerospace research.
Once the capsule has completed its ascent and Baumgartner has safely accomplished his mission, a remote triggering system will release the craft from the balloon. Tracked via a GPS system, a recovery parachute will bring the capsule slowly back to Earth, where the data can be extracted and evaluated.
The mission’s science team opted for a sealed capsule instead of a gondola used by the current record holder, Joe Kittinger, when he jumped from a height of 102,800 feet in 1960. The additional altitude of the Red Bull Stratos mission means that there are exponentially greater hazards from exposure to freezing temperatures, oxygen deprivation and low air pressure. The sealed capsule will protect Baumgartner. He will inflate his pressure suit only as he prepares to exit the craft.
The capsule testing program included initial evaluations at Sage Cheshire Aerospace, followed by a 2011 altitude chamber test verifying the vessel’s integrity in a real-time flight simulation to jump altitude. Following a final phase of egress training, Art Thompson confirmed that the capsule is ready to fly.
Capsule Facts:
Structure
The capsule’s design incorporates four key components: the pressure sphere, the cage, the shell and the base with crush pads.
Pressure sphere
The pressure sphere, with a diameter of 6 feet, contains the flight control panel and instrumentation and is where Baumgartner will be seated during the ascent. It is molded from fiberglass and epoxy, while the door and windows are made of acrylic. The pressure sphere’s interior will be pressurized to 8 pounds per square inch (psi), the equivalent of 16,000 feet above sea level, to reduce the risk of decompression sickness during the ascent without requiring Felix to inflate his pressure suit.
Cage
The cage surrounds the pressure sphere and supports the capsule overall. It was made by welding together Chrome-Moly (chromium molybdenum) aircraft tubing/pipes, a strong steel alloy frequently used in motorsports and aerospace industries. The cage frame is the point at which the capsule attaches to the balloon and will bear the load for the parachute system and capsule touchdown.
Shell
The external shell, 11 feet high and 8 feet in diameter at its base, surrounds the pressure sphere and cage. It is a foam-insulated skin covered in fiberglass that provides protection and insulation against temperatures that may reach – 70 Fahrenheit or lower.
Base and crush pads
The 8-foot-diameter base comprises of a 2-inch thick aluminum honeycomb panel which protects the capsule from sharp objects during landing and provides a mounting for the balloon system control box and batteries. Attached to the base are the landing crush pads, made of a cell-paper honeycomb covered by a fiberglass/epoxy fairing. They are designed to handle as much as 8 Gs on impact. Taking more than 150 drop tests to develop, the crush pads can be used only once and must be replaced after every flight.
Red Bull Stratos
Red Bull Stratos, created by Red Bull and Felix Baumgartner, is a mission to the edge of space that will try to surpass human limits that have existed for more than 50 years. Supported by a team of experts, Felix Baumgartner will undertake a stratospheric balloon flight to more than 120,000 feet and make a record-breaking freefall jump attempting to become the first man to break the speed of sound in freefall (an estimated 690 miles per hour) while delivering valuable data for medical and scientific advancement.
Editor’s Notes:
Red Bull Stratos Media Contact:
Trish Medalen
Email: trish@redbullstratos.com
Tel (USA): +1 415.302.1400