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Title: Airbus Perlan Mission II Glider Soars Into History
Source:
EAA
URL Source: http://09-24-2015-airbus-perlan-mission-ii-glider-soars-into-history
Published: Sep 24, 2015
Author: EAA
Post Date: 2015-09-24 23:33:03 by X-15
Keywords: None
Views: 114
Comments: 1
September 24, 2015 – The Perlan 2 glider, the world’s first engineless aircraft designed to reach the edge of space, achieved its successful first flight Wednesday about 5,000 feet above Robert’s Field, the Redmond Municipal Airport in Oregon. This was the first test flight of the aircraft, which next year will attempt to set a world altitude record. The Perlan 2 glider was developed by The Perlan Project, a volunteer-run, nonprofit endeavor headed by leaders in aerospace and engineering. It is supported by Airbus Group and a group of other sponsors that includes Weather Extreme Ltd., United Technologies and BRS Aerospace. “We’re extremely excited about the successful first flight of the Perlan 2 glider,” said Ed Warnock, CEO of the Perlan Project. “This marks a major breakthrough in aviation innovation, one that will allow winged exploration of the atmosphere at the edge of space and lead to new discoveries to unravel some of the continuing mysteries of weather, climate change, and ozone depletion.” Jim Payne and Morgan Sandercock piloted the flight, the first of many for the Airbus Perlan Mission II team. The Perlan 2 is a pressurized sailplane designed to ride air currents that, in certain mountainous regions near the north and south poles, can reach into the stratosphere. Next year’s flights are expected to reach 90,000 feet.
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Poke around this website for a bit, it's a pretty amazing project: Our goal is to reach the edge of space and study how giant stratospheric mountain waves impact our planet’s weather. Mission 1 proved that the highest mountain waves could open the door to the edge of space for gliders. Mission 2 will use a pressurized glider to reach 90,000 feet. Mission 3 will add transonic capabilities and reach 100,000 feet. Glider pilots have surfed on mountain waves since 1932. The process is like surfing on a wave in the ocean, except the glider is in the wave rather than on the surface of the wave. Einar Enevoldson, a NASA Test Pilot, 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 might be strong enough to lift a sailplane to remarkable altitudes. In 1998 Dr. Elizabeth Austin joined Einar 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, existing only in winter, provided the high speed wind in the stratosphere that powered incredibly high waves. The Perlan Project was formed to explore these waves and soar them to the edge of space. 
-Alex Kurtagic
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