Posted on 10/20/2001 4:17:01 PM PDT by aculeus
AN AUSTRALIAN former commando is preparing to leap from a balloon floating in near-space 25 miles above the ground in an attempt to become the world's highest skydiver.
Rodd Millner, 37, hopes to freefall for six minutes before opening his parachute and touching down within 30 miles of Ayers Rock in central Australia. He said: "A man in space has never achieved this, but research indicates the transition will be safe and smooth."
He appears undaunted by warnings from scientists that the descent through near-space could be so fast that his head will explode.
Millner plans to make the jump early next year wearing a pressurised spacesuit, and will have a camera attached to his body so that millions of viewers can watch live on television.
He was inspired by the attempts of the entrepreneur Richard Branson to fly around the world in a balloon. Millner said: "I've always respected those who have pushed the boundaries in life.
"Branson wrote that the last great balloon challenge was to circumnavigate the world. I disagree because, in my opinion, balloons were designed to go up - not around."
Millner plans to ascend in a gondola beneath a specially built balloon that will inflate as it rises until it becomes as wide as two jumbo jets. At 130,000ft - about 25 miles up - he will jump out.
The unofficial world record for the highest skydive was set at 102,000ft by Joe Kittinger, an American, in 1960.
Boeing 747s rarely fly higher than 35,000ft. "Anything beyond 60,000ft is known as the dead zone," said a spokesman for the Space Jump project's scientific team.
"No one really knows what might happen to Rodd. That's why he needs a pressurised spacesuit - he'll be diving from the edge of space."
The main danger is a lack of oxygen. Despite the suit, Millner could lose consciousness, in which case the parachute is equipped with a remote control that should ensure that it opens at a prescribed altitude.
Millner began intensive training for the jump in July. His backers include the Australian Defence Force Academy as well as several media companies.
Millner, a former member of the Australian Army's Reserve 1st Commando Regiment special forces unit, has always yearned for extreme experiences. He has been filmed with leopard sharks while scuba diving off the coast of Thailand, was ranked No 1 in Australian kung fu in the mid-1980s and has snowboarded and abseiled down mountains.
Walt Missingham, the project director, said millions of pounds had already been invested in the jump, from which scientific data will be gleaned on the human response to extreme conditions.
For his part, Millner insists that the dive is not a stunt, but a scientific experiment. "It's extreme science," he said.
Assume vacuum for the first 60,000 feet fall from 120k to 60k altitude. height= 1/2*a*t^2. a=32ft/sec^2. Thus, the time spent dropping from 120k feet to 60k feet is about 43 seconds. Multiply by the acceleration of 32 ft/s^2, and you get 1387 feet per second, or 945 mph. Of course, that assumes a vacuum, so the number may be lower, but we are at a velocity about mach 2 at sea level.
Fast!
He's been working on this project for over two years with NASA, the Australian Defense Forces and the US military. It's anything but an attempt to win a Darwin.
What's a vacuum? Seriously. The air pressure might be just a few mm Hg, not nearly enough to breathe, but enough to float a balloon. The balloon will be huge at its target altitude in order to compensate for the very low density atmosphere.
AB
That averages out to about 250 mph. You know that in the first 30,000 ft or so he'll probably be traveling about twice that speed. Cool!
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