Red Bull Stratos Mission

[Geor!]

wrong. Current male speed skydive record is 327 miles an hour. I've personally gone over 260. and the speed skydive record was done at an starting altitude of 12k feet.

but yeah, the record would be broke in the first part of the jump. It'll be curious to see how he holds up. Talk about an intense jump. I'd be all over that.. standing on top of the world has to be a fucking cool feeling.

Edit:

Somebody needs to tell this guy when he's standing on the edge about to jump, to say " I'm king of the motherfucking world!"

[Strychnine]

Sooooo...the further he falls, the thicker the atmosphere, therefore the slower he goes? Does he plan on breaking it within the first 20,000 feet of the fall?

The denser the atmosphere, the more drag. I forget the equation but once gravity equals drag, you're at terminal velocity, I think. Basically, when he hits a certain altitude, he will begin hitting the brakes. Yale could explain it better.

From a PopSci writeup on Stratos a few years ago:

Within 30 seconds, Baumgartner will accelerate to about 690 mph—fast enough to break the sound barrier at 100,000 feet.

He will travel faster than the speed of sound for only a few seconds before he hits denser air that will slow him down.
Scientists are particularly interested in how his body will handle the transition between supersonic and subsonic speeds.

He’ll spend roughly the next five minutes free-falling, slowing to a terminal speed of 120 mph. Turbulence or an erratic hand gesture could upset his aerodynamics, sending him into a 120-rpm spin that could knock him out. If he spins at 100 rpm for more than 10 seconds, a special parachute, called a drogue, will deploy to slow the spin.

At about 5,000 feet, he will deploy his main chute or, if he’s unable to, it will activate automatically. Depending on how the wind pushed his balloon during its ascent, he could land as far as 150 miles away from the launch site.

when he hits a certain altitude, he will begin hitting the brakes.

Right. Terminal velocity is when then downward force of gravity (Fg) equals the upward force of drag / resistance (Fd).


Vt = sqrt [ (2*m*g) / (p*A*Cd) ]


In the numerator:
(2*m*g) is a constant. Mass and gravity won't change.

In the denominator:
A is the frontal area. Assuming he stays in the same position that is a constant.
Cd is the coefficient of drag and it's not constant. It varies with speed (and gets into fluid dynamics, turbulent vs laminar flow, etc), but for simplicity imagine it being constant.

Here's the key:
p is the density of the medium (air) so as the density grows with the lower altitude (and the numerator is constant) the Vt value naturally has to shrink.

He'll haul ass at first when the air density is ~0.005% of sea level air density but physics dictates he continuously slow as he falls.

[slowyellow]

So.... Is he gonna do it today?

[71chevellejohn]

According to their site, it looks like Sunday morning 6AM MDT will be the next attempt(pending weather).

[Geor!]

According to their site, it looks like Sunday morning 6AM MDT will be the next attempt(pending weather).

Like I'm going to be awake at fucking 7am on a Sunday.

[scootro]

Red Bull’s Supersonic Space Jump Is Now Set For Sunday Morning

If the weather cooperates this time, live coverage will be starting at 6:30 AM MDT/8:30 AM EDT Sunday

[Torinoman]

At that altitude the speed of sound is 696 mph and 662 at 70,000 ft. I guess he should cross it in there somewhere before he crosses back into the troposphere

[scootro]

[naynay]

looks like the jump is set for sunday 7am

[347Mike]

Hey, does anyone know when the jump is rescheduled for?

[idrivea4banger]

Sunday at 7am??? Fuck that, ill be asleep.

[4pnt6]

What an idiot!

[appelingogt]

honestly I dont know if i'd be scared of height's at that point...can't see shit

[TX_92_Notch]

honestly I dont know if i'd be scared of height's at that point...can't see shit

Instead of that little dot down there being a car or a house, it's the earth. Fuck that!!

[brandon01rt]

I heard its Sunday morning, 7am.