The Perlan Project: Soaring to Near-Space
The Perlan Project: Soaring to Near-Space Michael Batalia1&3, Shelly Hynes2&3, Chris Hynes2&3, Einar Enevoldson3, Ed Warnock3, Morgan Sandercock3, Elizabeth Austin3&4, Greg Cole3&5 (1Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 2The Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, Natchitoches, Louisiana, 3The Perlan Project, Beaverton, Oregon 4Weather Extreme Ltd., Fallbrook, California 5Windward Performance Ltd., Bend, Oregon) Summary Design Specification (CDS) [Chin et al. 2008]. By Utilizing the CDS, researchers will be able to reuse The Perlan Project is dedicated to building and experiments designed to fly on other platforms, as flying research gliders capable of travel to “near- well as to prepare and test experiments on Perlan space”, the realm of Earth’s middle atmosphere. II flights prior to flying the experiments on other The Perlan II is currently under construction, and it platforms. is a pressurized, high altitude sailplane designed to reach 90,000+ feet. Unlike the SR-71 Blackbird The Perlan II sailplane is under construction in which relies on massive engines to power its way Bend, Oregon at the Windward Performance Ltd. to high altitudes, the Perlan II sailplane is designed aircraft factory. Flight testing is scheduled to begin to harness the lift of stratospheric mountain waves in the spring of 2013 contingent on continued generated when the polar vortex, a persistent, funding. Design and construction of the Perlan II large-scale cyclone located near both of our sailplane creates unique engineering challenges planet's geographical poles, crosses the Andes for professionals and students. The Perlan II will Mountains. Once accomplished, these flights will fly in a virtual vacuum of only 3% atmospheric set new manned altitude records for wing-borne pressure.
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