Alan Eustace recently made the highest skydive ever, from 135,000 feet, breaking records set by Felix Baumgarter and Joe Kittinger. Despite how it’s been portrayed by the media, the aim of Alan’s jump was not personal fame or a high altitude jolly. This was a scientific project, StratEx (Stratosphere Explorer), which aimed to create a spacesuit and system that would allow us to explore the stratosphere.
Alan commented, “I always wondered – what if you could design a system that would allow humans to explore the stratosphere as easily and safely as they do the ocean.” Well, now Alan made his concept a reality, by taking a 3-year sabbatical from Vice-President at Google, and working with a team of scientists from ten companies at the leading edge of technology.
Adventure
The beauty of Alan’s concept was its simplicity. Rather than spending millions on a pressurised space capsule, plus a spacesuit, plus the technology to leave the capsule, he simply ascended in the spacesuit, dangling from a helium-filled balloon, releasing when he was ready to come back to earth. The entire flight was completed in less than 4 hours.
Prior to the flight the equipment was readied and extensive safety tests carried out, while Alan pre-breathed oxygen for 4 hours, to remove the nitrogen from his body. Once Mission Control was happy with the weather conditions and the systems tests, Alan was attached to an instrument module under the balloon and launched. He climbed at a respectable 1,000 feet a minute initially, and took about 2 and a half hours to rise to over 135,000 feet. Here there is only 0.2% of the earth’s atmosphere. Alan then spent half an hour floating in the stratosphere, that must surely be incredible, almost life-changing.
When he was ready, Alan released from the balloon and went into freefall in the thin air. Unlike Felix, he was stabilized by a drogue chute, and therefore avoided spinning, only making a couple of backloops before falling stable, belly to earth. Accelerating to more than the speed of sound after 90 seconds, he then gradually slowed down as the atmosphere became thicker, finally opening his PD canopy at around 15,000 feet. It then took Alan about 15 minutes to fly back to earth, under his tandem-sized ram-air, carrying the extra weight of the spacesuit. Despite test flights on this canopy and being an experienced skydiver, Alan didn’t stand up the landing due to the huge weight on his stomach, but was unhurt, triumphant and jubilant.
Spacesuit
If unprotected in the stratosphere, a human being could not breathe and his blood would boil. Designed by ILC Dover, the spacesuit used was similar to those used for Apollo but had to operate at a higher pressure, of 5.4psid. It had to allow Alan sufficient mobility to operate systems, stay in control in freefall, and pilot the canopy all the way to the landing. Heat was a problem, and therefore he minimised his movements as there was no cooling system. Before the big day Alan flew his spacesuit in wind tunnels, jumping from aircraft and from balloons, while still in the earth’s atmosphere.
Balloon
The balloon stood almost 400 feet high at launch and initially contained 30,000 cubic feet of helium. It expanded to 11 million cubic feet on rising to the stratosphere, as the outside pressure decreased. A special launch system was developed to hold the base of the balloon while it was inflated, pressure measured, strength tested, and the pilot attached.
I can see the curvature of the Earth and the darkness of Space and it’s awe-inspiring
Alan Eustace
Technology
Paragon Space Development Corporation designs and provides complete life support systems for extreme adventurers, including astronauts and hazardous water divers. Their ultra-advanced technology thermal control and life support systems are used by such clients as NASA and the International Space Station. Paragon worked with Alan to design the life support system, manage development and run operations.
World View is an ultra high altitude balloon company, whose aim is to provide voyagers with flights at 100,000 feet, suspended in a capsule below a balloon. A multitude of other organizations were involved, including ILC Dover who designed the spacesuit, ADE Aerospace Consulting who provided the medical team and training programme, plus the combined forces of United Parachute Technologies, Performance Designs and Vigil for the skydiving equipment.
Future
Alan and his team have proved that it is possible to explore the stratosphere above 100,000 feet in a comparatively simple self-contained suit and recovery system. This is a leap in itself for humankind, and it will be interesting to see where this stepping stone leads.
The StratEx system could be used with an aircraft rather than with a balloon. Our knowledge of the stratosphere is limited but now we have the opportunity to study it at leisure. This technology could be applied for astronauts to exit their spacecraft, or for suits for wearing in high altitude aircraft. StratEx gives the chance to study body dynamics at Mach 1, and will surely be used to set balloon, space diving and sailplaning records. The sky used to be the limit – now, it’s the edge of space!
“Exploration is the pinnacle of the human experience
Alan Eustace
For more information see StratEx website
Photos used by kind permission of Paragon Space Development Corporation
