Red Bull Stratos

The Red Bull Stratos project was a parachute jump from the stratosphere, which was executed on 14 October 2012 from the Austrian base jumper Felix Baumgartner and extreme athletes and several aeronautical world records broken. The project was mainly sponsored by the Austrian beverage company Red Bull and supported by NASA and the U.S. Air Force logistical and technical expertise.

• 2.1 Objectives of the project
• 2.2 Purpose and team
• 2.3 Preparation of the jump
• 2.4 technology 2.4.1 pressure capsule
• 2.4.2 Helium balloon

Background

The project Stratos joined to the jumps of the Excelsior project, which were 1959 and 1960 carried out by the U.S. military pilot Joseph Kittinger. The aim of this three jumps was the development of parachute systems for high and fast-flying combat aircraft. Unlike the Excelsior project at Stratos media attention for the sponsor by the targeted world records stand strong in the foreground.

Excelsior III

On 16 August 1960 Joseph Kittinger jumped from an altitude of 31 333 m and set three world records. Two of these records were only valid until Baumgartner's jump, while the third of which has remained unbroken:

• Highest balloon ascent cable car: 31 333 m
• Fastest speed by a human without special protective cover: 988 km / h
• Longest free fall in a parachute jump: 4 minutes and 36 seconds.

Largest height of fall in free fall

Kittinger's record for the greatest height of fall in free fall was outbid on 1 November 1962. On that day the Soviet parachutists Yevgeny Andreyev 25 458 m jumped over the city Volsk. When you open the screen in 958 m height, it had 24,500 m completed in free fall.

Stratos project

Objectives of the project

It was planned in a pressure capsule in a helium balloon to reach the stratosphere and jump off with a pressure suit and parachute. It should be five valid since the 1960s, broke records as well as technical and medical data are collected to, among others, to gain insight into the possibility of an emergency egress from spacecraft and to increase the safety of future astronauts.

• Highest manned balloon flight: were planned at least 36,576 m ( 120,000 ft).
• Largest jump height: There were plans for at least 36,576 m.
• Longest time in free fall: There were plans for 5 minutes and 35 seconds.
• Longest distance in free fall: The plan was at least 34.5 km. Baumgartner should open his parachute around 1.5 km above the ground.
• Largest reached by the free fall speed: There were plans for at least 1100 km / h ( supersonic speed).

Purpose and team

The main sponsor puts in all his publications greatest importance to note that the records were not the real purpose of the mission, but the scientific benefits have had priority, as is the attempt to " inspire people to dare Large ". The scientific evaluation of the data will take some time to complete. Survival strategies for future space missions and improved spacesuits will result with certainty from the recorded data and the experience with the preparation and execution of the jump.

The record jump would have been impossible if not specialists were involved in the enterprise. These are in particular:

• Colonel Joseph 'Joe' Kittinger. He was Baumgartner's mentor and during the several years of preparation also his " mentor " in this project.
• Art Thompson, co-founder of Sage Cheshire Aerospace, Project Manager.
• John Clark, medical director.
• Don Day, meteorologist.
• Luke Aikin, skydiver and photographer. On his account is a significant part of the security precautions regarding the feared flat spin.
• Ed Coca, director of the balloon teams, responsible for the launch.

Preparation of the jump

Since the internal pressure of the suit must be lowered during planned for about three hours ascent to guarantee a minimum of movement when exit and in freefall, the jumper breathes already two hours before entry into the capsule of pure oxygen, thereby nitrogen from the body abatmet. The low pressure would otherwise be nitrogen in the tissue and in the blood vessels be liberated, which leads to the same damage as the decompression sickness while diving.

Technology

Pressure capsule

The manufactured by Sage Cheshire Aerospace, fully loaded around 1315 kg heavy pressure capsule was early March 2012 to the public. It consists of the following main components:

• The pressure sphere with a diameter of approximately 1.8 meters is made of fiberglass reinforced plastic and is fireproof painted. The door and windows are made of acrylic. The interior contains the instrumentation, 3 cameras and the custom-made pilot chair. In order to reduce pilot workload, the pressure until just before the exit to around 0.55 bar is held, which corresponds to about 4900 m above sea level.
• A frame of welded chromium -molybdenum steel tubes used for the suspension of the capsule, surrounds the pressure ball, and carrying arms for the external cameras.
• The shell is made ​​of fiberglass -coated insulating foam. It surrounds the pressure ball and the cage is 3.35 m high and has a base diameter of 2.44 meters.
• The domed capsule base should help to stabilize the capsule during descent. It consists of a 5 cm thick aluminum honeycomb sandwich that is supposed to protect when landing from damage caused by sharp rocks the capsule and simultaneously forms jump platform and mounting platform for heavy equipment such as controls and batteries. Below this base a thick cushioning layer of plastic- impregnated paper honeycomb is attached, which was designed to absorb forces up to 8 g and is replaced after each landing. According Red Bull more than 150 drop tests were carried out. The concept proved so beneficial to the crash landing after Baumgartner's second test step.

Helium balloon

The data used for the ascent balloons correspond to those which are used for research purposes; but for larger peak heights they need to be more voluminous, for the test jumps therefore sufficed smaller balloons. For the two identical models that were made to the record attempt, welded to high strength polyethylene film having a thickness of 0.02 millimeters.

The preparation of such a balloon is calculated for the start of up to 8 hours, including 45-60 minutes for filling with approximately 5000 cubic meters of helium ( at the bottom pressure). In this state, the balloon envelope is flaccid and as much as 170 m; the total amount (balloon, including the parachute, below the pressure capsule ) is about 212 m. In the planned exit altitude of 36,500 m, the height of the balloon is approximately 102 m and a diameter of 129 m and a volume of about 850,000 cubic meters due to expansion. In order to prevent the bursting of the balloon after exceeding the prescribed maximum altitude, safety valves are installed.

To surpass Kittinger's record level security with around 5000 meters, ten times the amount of gas was pretty much required because the weight of the Stratos capsule exceeded that of the open gondola of Kittinger's by far.

Development stages of the project

Baumgartner said several times, to have been preparing for his final jump extreme seven years; by Red Bull, preparatory work will specify the age of five. 2010 complained of the base - jumper Daniel Hogan before a California court to several million U.S. dollars in damages because he had proposed the idea and have worked for Red Bull over a long period details and that he ultimately connected to a multi-million dollar advertising value concept of stratospheric jump had been stolen. The dispute was settled out of court in June 2011.

On March 15, 2012 took place in Roswell, New Mexico ( USA), where a ground station was set up, the first manned test flight of the pressure capsule. Baumgartner jumped from 21,800 meters, reached a speed of 587 km / h and its free fall lasted three minutes and 33 seconds. The then empty capsule initially rose further on, was then separated according to plan (after Baumgartner landing) around 30 km altitude of the balloon and landed by parachute, the balloon envelope was torn open as planned, and fell to the ground. One problem with this jump was preparing the cold: Baumgartner could hardly move his hands.

On July 25, 2012 Baumgartner graduated from the second test jump, this time from an altitude of 30,000 m. This time the parachute of the capsule did not open fully, the capsule struck at 80 km / h and was damaged in the process, which led to the postponement of the planned August record jump.

The record jump was planned for 8 October 2012, but then postponed due to the weather by one day. On October 9, but a gust of wind pushed the balloon immediately before the start to the ground, thereby preventing damage could not be excluded. A start has been classified and canceled as too risky.

The record jump

This was carried out on 14 October 2012 - coincidentally on the 65th anniversary of the first supersonic flight. The launch of the balloon, originally scheduled for 06:00 local time clock, 14:00 Central European Summer Time clock, had to be postponed several times due to the strong wind. The main responsible for the start time Meteorologist Don Day last calculated a time window of 09:20 bis 09:40 clock clock; the release was made by the head of the balloon teams, Coca Ed. Clock 09:31 local time, the capsule was unlatched.

As expected, the balloon passed the anticipated rumored " target level " of 120,000 ft / 36,576 m. At 12:07 local time Felix Baumgartner jumped from 38969.4 meters ( 127,852.4 feet) altitude, after he had said these words:

" I know the whole world is watching now. I wish You Could see what I can see. Sometimes you have to be up really high to understand how small you are ... I'm going home now. "

"I know the whole world is watching now. Could you just see what I see! Sometimes you really have to go up a long way, so you can see how small you are ... I 'm going home now. "

In freefall Baumgartner reached 1357.6 km / h He is the first man to exceed the speed of sound in free fall. Here, the Springer as expected temporarily lost control of his flying position, ie over a period of slightly more than 40 seconds. His security system would have triggered the stabilization screen automatically if these rotations six seconds a predetermined centrifugal force would have been constantly exceeded ( in the assumption that a man is then no longer able to respond even accordingly; manual activation of the stabilizing screen at any time was possible). This condition is missed Baumgartner twice scarce. The stabilization screen would have the jump slowed down so that the speed of sound would not have been achieved. After 4:20 minutes in freefall Baumgartner went as planned 1585 meters above the ground the parachute and landed about five minutes later at 12:16 h local, safe and unharmed, some 70 km east of the starting point. A helicopter brought him back to Walker Air Force Base.

Immediately after the jump Baumgartner said that he had briefly feared during the critical period, to lose consciousness. He had, in particular using his arms, " tried a lot " to achieve a stable flight, which came about one and a half minutes after take-off.

Felix Baumgartner presented in this project world records:

Notes:

Derlei records had, regardless of the location of the record attempt, through the national club, here: Austrian Aero - Club ( ÖAeC ) are checked against the data. Since the " official " forwarding to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, FAI, and their confirmation on February 22, 2013, it shall be deemed " officially recognized ".

Media

Approximately 200 television stations and networks reported live from the event, including the German-speaking Salzburg, Red Bull financed ServusTV transmitter and one ORF and n-tv. Servus TV, which reported live more than ten hours, and n-tv could this new station records recorded in terms of audience figures. The ORF reached the highest rate since the first TV interview with Natascha Kampusch 2006. Especially in Baumgartner's home country of Austria, the project was thus a media event. With over three million viewers in ORF and Servus TV the jump was the most-watched live event since the introduction of telecommuting tests.

The live stream offered by the video portal YouTube saw at peak times around eight million people at the same time. Thus, a new record was reached. To date, the Internet service offered by Akamai live stream of the inauguration of the President of the United States Barack Obama in 2009, with around seven million viewers had the highest range. In the days after the jump many montages have emerged that are based on the YouTube video, such as a replica with Lego figures or pictures with cats. The stratosphere was quickly renamed by the Austrian presenter and entertainer Mr. Hermes, " Baumgartner Höhe ", the name of a psychiatric hospital in Vienna.

The Stratos project is therefore considered the most successful to date, Owned media project. The costs for the project were provided by the company founder Dietrich Mateschitz with less than 25 million euros, the advertising value is estimated from the Austrian advertising professionals with 1 billion euros.