Chapter 13: Withering HeightsQuirijn Frederix

SkyVentures vertical wind tunnel

Felix BaumgartnerRed Bull Stratos Mission

• Testing of modified emergency escape suit by David Clark Company

• Provide engineers with information about falling body in a pressurized suit in extremely thin air and at supersonic speeds

• Testing if suit allows for tracking posture

I’m really proud of the contribution I’ll be making

for safer space travel...

... but I’m primarily interested in breaking

records.

Felix Baumgartner

• Joe Kittinger• Project Excelsior, 1963• Testing a multi-stage

parachute system• 31,333m

Skydiving records

• Felix Baumgartner• 2012, Red Bull Stratos• 38,969m• 1,357km/h

𝑣𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙=√ 2𝑚𝑔𝜌𝐶𝐷 𝐴

• Alan Eustace• October 2014• 41,419m• Senior Vice President

of Knowledge, Google

• Felix Baumgartner• 2012, Red Bull Stratos• 38,969m• 1,357km/h

𝑣𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙=√ 2𝑚𝑔𝜌𝐶𝐷 𝐴

• Alan Eustace• October 2014• 41,419m• Senior Vice President

of Knowledge, Google

Dangers of escape systemsDan Fulgham

• Test of ejection system of X-20 Space plane in 1963 Plane went into flat spin at 177rpm 23g at arms

• Test on monkeys at 144rpm: Brain separated from spinal cord

• Redout due to rupture of vessels in the brain

Mirai Nagasu, 2010 Olympics

Project Excelsior

• Program from the US Air Force to test multi-stage parachute systems because jets were flying higher and higher in the 1950’s

• First dummies were used, they exerted life threatening flat spins up to 200rpm

• Tests happened around the Roswell area, caused many UFO alerts

• Solution: Use of drogue chute for stabilization

• During one test flight, Dan Fulgham injured his head on the gondola, it swole so much his wife didn’t recognize him

Jon Clark

• Red Bull Stratos medical director• High altitude parachutist for US Air Force• Flight surgeon for Space Shuttle crew• Investigated Columbia disaster

• Haughton-Mars Project (HMP)• Devon Island, Canada• Lunar/Mars expedition simulations

• His goal is not only to protect Felix Baumgartner from the physical effects of high altitude but to establish new protocols for the benefit of future aviators and astronauts

Columbia disasterIs there any way the crew could have survived...?

• Bill Weaver, SR-71 crash in 1966 at M = 3.2, 24,000m altitude• Columbia: M = 17, altitude = 64,000m

equivalent of 600km/h at sea level

Crew suffered unusual injuries

Shock-shock interaction caused very intensive forces

Escape system solutions

• Very complicated, escape systems usually work for specific altitude, range, speed

• Ejection seats: only during first 8-10 seconds of launch• Ballute: between balloon and parachute• Capsule parachute system, for example on

Orion: Heavy and costly, parachute would need its own heat shield

What about airplanes?

• 210-290km/h: Cheeks against skull, facelift

Why don’t they outfit every seat with portable oxygen supplies and parachutes?

• 440km/h: Lips agape• 560km/h: Nose cartilage deforms, skin starts to

flutter, waves from mouth to ear at 300Hz• >560km/h: Force causes deformations that

can “exceed the strength of tissue”• Airplane at 800-900km/h: Fatality

What about airplanes?

• 400km/h: blow oxygen mask off face

Windblasts

• 640km/h: Helmet gets blown off (as in the case of Bill Weaver)

• 800km/h: Ram air rupture elements in pulmonary system

• 960km/h: open epiglottis and inflate stomach

• 960+km/h: Vibrations of metal on ejection seat emulsified brain

What about airplanes?

• At 10,000m: 30 to 60 seconds of “useful consciousness”

Hypoxia

• At 7,500m: 2 to 5 mins of “useful consciousness”

• Pockets of gas inside cavities expand: unfilled cavities, gas dissolved in cerebral fluid in brain ventricles, air in stomach expands 3 times

Conclusion

• Dangers for human body at extreme altitude and speed include windblasts, hypoxia and shockwaves

• Designing emergency escape suits is very challenging

• A lot of research needs to be conducted still