Insane Skydiving?

Imagine skydiving from the space shuttle. Then imagine the next best thing: jumping from the gondola of a balloon hoisted to the edge of space and hitting supersonic speeds on the way down. It's parachutist Cheryl Stearns' dream that by this time next year she will have made the balloon drop and set the world record for highest skydive. Stearns, already a world champion skydiver and professional pilot, starts this weekend to prepare to jump from a dizzying 165,000 feet above the Earth. That's a fall of thirty-one-and-a-quarter miles — straight down. Because the jump will start in sub-orbital space, she'll be wearing a pressure suit — virtually a customized spacesuit adapted for her unique quest. During the first minute of the fall there will be so little air to fall through that she will quickly reach speeds between mach 1.3 and 1.5, before slowing down in the thicker air of the lower atmosphere. The lower she gets, the more air resistance and the lower her terminal velocity will be. She will actually be a little slower at 10,000 feet than a "normal" skydiver because of her large suit and extra gear. Discovery.com Uh Ill wait down here... __________________ and WHO may I interject is going to pay for this drop? Or her medical bills when they deem her legally insane? I can't imagine jumping off a step on my front porch let alone from MILES about my backyard..o well..let's hope she doesn't end up like that balloonist did..dropping his passengers low enough over a freeway to get slammed by an oncoming 18 wheeler. Well then again..she is going to have that puffy suit on..lets hope it can save her. cool bouncy thing btw. __________________ Actually, the thing I'd be worried about is re-entry. If she really will be going Mach 1.3-1.5, and will SLOW DOWN as she hits more air, that's going to generate a whole lot of friction! I get the feeling she's going to be very __________________ thats what I was thinking too. and hitting mach1.3? the wind will rip her suit (and parachute) off when the air-density increases. can we say "major windburn"? __________________ damn, she will burn up sooooooo fast. she'll never even have a chance to touch the ground. __________________ I saw this article on Slashdot.org, but I have one question who is gonna take her up there? And Terminal Velocity is approx 150 mph and mach 1.5 is like 1000 mph how the F*ck is she gonna slow down? __________________ Quote: Originally posted by lucky_sob I saw this article on Slashdot.org, but I have one question who is gonna take her up there? And Terminal Velocity is approx 150 mph and mach 1.5 is like 1000 mph how the F*ck is she gonna slow down? when she hits the ground ...that should slow her down.... It's not the fall I'm scared of it's the sudden stop at the end. __________________ I just want to know will this be TELEVISED. __________________ Quote: Originally posted by Nanotech9 thats what I was thinking too. and hitting mach1.3? the wind will rip her suit (and parachute) off when the air-density increases. can we say "major windburn"? Alright, first of all, she is going to be wearing a specialized space suit for this jump for several reasons. First, she needs to be able to breathe in the very low air density of the upper atmosphere. 31 miles up, there isn't much oxygen to be found. Also, the larger surface area of this suit will cause her to have a lower terminal velocity than a typical skydiver. This terminal velocity will continue to decrease as she enters more and more dense air in the different layers of the atmosphere. There is an inherent risk in this jump because in the upper atmosphere, there is so little air that if she does not get positioned correctly within the first few seconds, she will be hurtling toward the earth at a supersonic speed in the wrong position, which would be extremely hard to counteract. __________________ has been done in the past... The military has dropped the Rangers from 75000 feet and they wear the pressure suit... the drop has to be perfect... I will look again for some pages on jump gone wrong. __________________ 75,000 is a lot different than 165,000. __________________ damn if shes willing to try that then i deffiently got a hot whats her #? heheheh __________________ oops hot is supposed to be shot the "s" fell off somewhere oh there it is on the floor next to the PC world and the empty dew cans __________________ Quote: Originally posted by chosenfool imagine the air pressure...she will get crushed like a bulldozer rolling over an empty can of soda.... up there iar pressure is really almost non-existent, and to drop that fast, either she'll burn on reentry, or get crushed at 35,000 feet, from a drop of 165,000 miles. I don't think she'll be going fast enough to burn on reentry. The meteors that burn in our atmosphere, and the rockets or satellites that need all that ceramic coating are coming in at speeds more like a few thousand miles per hour. Atmosphere slows 'em up real quick. Doubt it would rip her suit off, if its a full body coverall, as I imagine any pressurized suit worthy of the name would be. I have to check a diagram of the atmosphere to see how the air pressure changes through 165,000 feet, relatively gradually or with sharp changes, before deciding whether she would be crushed at any point of the fall due to a rapid increase in pressure. __________________ In the mid to low atmosphere, the pressure change is fairly constant, so she shouldn' hit any sudden changes, but i'd like to comment on the quote: "the wind would rip her suit and parachute off". Her suit is pressurized and locked. It will be airtight and made in a way that keeps it locked together, and will probably be tested in a vacuum room and with high speed fans first to make sure that things don't get F-ed, and about the parachute...well...unless something goes terribly wrong, her chute shouldn't be open while she's going at super high speeds. It shouldn't pop out until the normal height and speed are hit. My main concern is in regards to what happens once she blacks out form the sudden rush of blood to her head and the immediate uncontrolled spin that will begin as soon as she passes out. As she is falling, she will have to try to keep her body perpendicular to her velocity to avoid uncontrollable speeds or losing control...which wil mean that her arms and legs will be thrown back because they cannot fight the wind resistance...then will then be filled with blood, flooding her brain and causing her to pass out...which will throw her head even farther back...causing her to enter a potentially fatal spin because the rapid spinning would keep the blood in her head, just because it would be thrown away from her midriff. This is where it gets dangerous. With the rapid spin, her chute should automatically pop out at some elevation, in case she hasn't pulled it yet...but with a rapid spin, if this happens...she'll just get all wound up in the teathers...and this will slow down her spin...but then her main chute is going to be all tied up, and it will probably be too difficult to cut all of the cords fast enough...which means that she's road kill... ProMinx __________________ Maybe you should write her and let her know all this Prominx. __________________ No wonder I was freaked when I jumped from just 14,000... I did hit kinda hard (I ignored the instructor who kept screaming "Flare!") but it was SO COOL to go to the emergency room and say "I messed up my leg falling out of a plane at 14,000 feet" __________________ eerrrr *ouch* __________________ Quote: Originally posted by ProMinx ...which means that she's road kill... ProMinx hehehehehe... Now Granny, you go get the fryin pan. Jethrow, you go grab the roadkill cookbook and wul just whoop us up a good ole meal __________________ [b] Quote: Originally posted by ProMinx ...which means that she's road kill... ProMinx yeah too bad ya are goona ahve to peel the shell off first Mavi forum