Skydiver Attempts To Break Sound Barrier at 760 MPH
The first solo skydive a jumper makes, once they are Category 3 (non-tandem), is from 4,000 feet giving you about 10 seconds of free fall. One extreme Austrian man, Felix Baumgartner wants to jump from 120,000 feet and on top of that he wants to break the sound barrier, which would make him the first free faller to ever attain those speeds.
As a note, for a typical free fall a speed of 50% of terminal velocity is reached after only 3 seconds, after 8 seconds you’ll be at 90%, and to reach nearly 99% it takes 15 seconds. It is possible to attain higher speeds by reducing drag, pull in one’s limbs, or increasing the height of fall, reducing density and thus drag. Competition speed skydivers fly in the head down position and have reached speeds of 614 mph, the record held by Joseph Kittinger from a height of 102,600 feet.
In order for Baumgartner to achieve the speeds he wants, roughly 760 MPH, he will need one special suit. In conjunction with the Red Bull Stratos project and David Clark, a company well versed in astronautical suits and spacecraft, he hopes to be able to reach his goal.
The suit creates an artificial atmosphere that allows pilots to survive in conditions that would be impossible otherwise. For example, Baumgartner will be in a -59 degree Fahrenheit environment and the air pressure will be so low that if the suit were to fail it would kill him instantly.
The project has added benefits other than just breaking a record. The team hopes to develop suits which can save jumpers that might have to bail out from crafts above the 120,000 foot level. If they were to do this they would involuntarily breach the sound barrier. Baumgartner says he wants to help researchers better understand the effects of supersonic speeds on a person free falling through the atmosphere as well as the effects on the suit itself.
To reach the jumping height he will ascend to the stratosphere in a special pressurized capsule that is lifted by a massive helium balloon, being developed by the researchers. Once he is above the 120,000 feet he will depressurize the capsule, open the door and dive head first towards the Earth.
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