# Glider set to fly to the edge of space in record breaking 90,000ft test



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 3, 2016)

Called the Airbus Perlan II, the glider is the world's first engineless aircraft designed to reach such heights by riding so-called 'mountain waves*.*









The goal of the project is to 'open up a world of new discoveries related to high-altitude flight, climate change and space exploration', explained the firm.
The Perlan II is a pressurised sailplane designed to ride air currents that, in certain mountainous regions near the north and south poles, can reach into the stratosphere.  
Despite having no engine, the glider's true flight speed at that altitude will be more than 400mph (643km/h) and the air density will be less than two per cent of what it is at sea level. 
The crew will breathe pure oxygen provided by a rebreather system, similar to what astronauts use in space.
In addition to its two-person crew, the aircraft carries scientific instruments to provide new insight into climate change and the upper atmosphere.
Because it lacks an engine, Perlan II can explore the edge of space without polluting the atmosphere it will study.









​










*Forbes*


​​


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (May 9, 2016)

Successful test flight on Sunday, 


The plane took to the sky from an airstrip in Minden, Nevada – close to the Lake Tahoe resort.

On board were pilots Jim Payne, and Tom Enders, the German chief executive of the plane manufacturer Airbus, which is sponsoring the mission.


*Perlan project*


----------



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Sep 7, 2017)

Airbus' Perlan 2 aircraft has made history this week, setting a new world altitude record for gliding.

The aircraft soared to an 52,000 feet over the Patagonia region of Argentina, without the support of an engine.

The flight takes Airbus one step closer to its ultimate goal of sending an engine-less aircraft to the edge of space.







The Perlan 2 glider is a pressurised sailplane designed to ride updrafts called 'mountain waves' that, in certain regions near the north and south poles, can reach into the stratosphere.

For a brief period in August and September every year, the weather in the Andes mountains near El Calafate is often just right to generate these elusive stratospheric mountain waves.

Perlan 2 is designed to ride these waves up to 90,000 feet without requiring the two-person crew to wear pressure suits.

And while the Perlan 2 didn't quite reach those heights, it smashed the previous world gliding altitude record of 50,671 feet, set in 2006 by Steve Fossett and Perlan Project founder Einar Enevoldson in the unpressurised Perlan 1 glider. 


*THE HISTORY OF THE PERLAN PROJECT *





The Perlan Project was formed to explore the waves and wind seen in the Polar Vortex and soar them to the edge of space (illustrated)

Glider pilots have surfed so-called mountain waves since 1932. 

The process is similar to surfing on a wave in the ocean, except the glider is in the wave rather than on the surface of the wave. 

Mountain waves form when winds of at least 15 knots cross over a mountain range perpendicularly and the atmosphere is 'stable' waves will form on the lee side of the mountains. 

A glider uses the upward moving part of this wave system to climb. 

But the maximum altitude of a mountain is typically at the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere, and this is because the cold air of the mountain wave encounters warmer air at the boundary and can't rise further. 

Einar Enevoldson, a Nasa test pilot and founder of the project, saw evidence that in regions closer to the Poles in winter, the waves could extend above the troposphere and well into the stratosphere. 

Previously, no-one had searched for waves in the stratosphere in sub-polar regions in winter.

From 1992 until 1998, he gathered more evidence that these waves existed, and found they might be strong enough to lift a sailplane to high altitudes. 

Then, in 1998 Dr Elizabeth Austin joined Mr Enevoldson in the search for an understanding of stratospheric mountain waves.

She found that the Polar Vortex, and one of its principal components, the stratospheric polar night jet that only exists in winter, provided the high speed wind in the stratosphere that powered incredibly high waves. 

Winds in the Polar Vortex can reach speeds of 260 knots and upwards allowing the mountain waves to propagate upwards into the stratosphere. 

The Perlan Project was formed to explore these waves and soar them to the edge of space.

In August 2006, Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson soared the Perlan 1 glider to 50,722ft (15,460 metres) using these 'stratospheric mountain waves.'


----------



## FordGT90Concept (Sep 8, 2017)

52,000 feet I can believe; 90,000 feet I can't.  The SR-71 couldn't get much over 85,000 feet and it got there by using massive engines that change their dynamics as conditions change (becomes more like a ramjet with altitude).  The air is so thin up there, the only way to generate any thrust is via rocket or massive compression.  And currents at that altitude? There aren't any because the air is too thin.  The only place it might be possible is off of Mount Everest but I still doubt it.

And why do they need it anyway?  Don't weather balloons accomplish the exact same thing?

Putting a human that high means the cabin has to be pressurized or the crew need what is effectively a space suit. It also needs to be shielded against solar radiation and needs heating because it's frigid up there.  It makes no sense to make these aircraft manned.


----------



## R-T-B (Sep 8, 2017)

FordGT90Concept said:


> And currents at that altitude? There aren't any because the air is too thin.  The only place it might be possible is off of Mount Everest but I still doubt it.





> The Perlan II is a pressurised sailplane designed to ride air currents that, in certain mountainous regions near the north and south poles, can reach into the stratosphere.



This seems to contradict you.


----------



## FordGT90Concept (Sep 8, 2017)

Stratosphere starts at 26,000 feet and extends up to 160,000 feet.  They're already operating in the stratosphere and there's nothing extraordinary about that.  It's the over-half-way-up-the-stratosphere part that's lofty (pun intended), especially the unpowered part that doesn't involve helium.


----------

