Orbital Skydiving
- Thread starter Vargas
- Start date
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Sounds like it'd just extend the boredom. It's only the last hundred feet or so that gets interesting. I'd just stick with base jumping. 
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
Where's a link?!
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Unfortunately all you get for free is a small pic of the cover...
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/currentissue/index.html
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/currentissue/index.html
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
That's better than nothing! That suit looks like something out of Power Rangers, though....
Inside the article has a line drawing of the front of the suit that looks less "Power Ranger". For what it might be worth, the dive begins at about 328 thousand feet. The diver accelerates for two minutes to 2500 mph at 108 thousand feet where atmospheric drag begins. The diver decelerates at 4.4 Gs for 30 seconds and heats up from -40 deg F to +464 deg F. After 3 min 20 seconds of falling, the diver reaches a terminal velocity of 120 mph. At 3000 feet, the diver pulls a chute (7 min 20 sec into the dive) and touches down after a total of 10 minutes of diving.
The former NASA engineers working on it think it can be done with currently available materials and could be used for sport or as an "escape to Earth from orbit" system.
It shows me that hard vacc suits are already possible and an escape craft could be little more than a fancy vacc suit. Sky diving from orbit is a silly sport.
The former NASA engineers working on it think it can be done with currently available materials and could be used for sport or as an "escape to Earth from orbit" system.
It shows me that hard vacc suits are already possible and an escape craft could be little more than a fancy vacc suit. Sky diving from orbit is a silly sport.
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Ok, so hitting the atmosphere might be fun.
Kinda minimizes the vacc suit 're-entry pack' though, doesn't it?
ATP, where's your buzz, man? The only thing that'd stop me giving it a whirl would be the depth of my pockets! I wouldn't choose to be one of the first few dozen guinea pigs, though - I'm not suicidal.
Kinda minimizes the vacc suit 're-entry pack' though, doesn't it?
ATP, where's your buzz, man? The only thing that'd stop me giving it a whirl would be the depth of my pockets! I wouldn't choose to be one of the first few dozen guinea pigs, though - I'm not suicidal.
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
The vacc suit "re-entry pack" was necessary because 1) the vacc suit in OTU is soft, and 2) because most people would significantly freak long before the suit reached 464F.
I wonder how much ablation occurs on the suit, though - especially in that decel from 2500mph to 120mph. (Funny, we don't typically think in terms of decelerating to terminal velocity!
)
The thing stopping me from giving it a whirl (besides the pockets
) is, if its stupid to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, then it must be idiocy indeed to jump out of a perfectly good spaceship....
I wonder how much ablation occurs on the suit, though - especially in that decel from 2500mph to 120mph. (Funny, we don't typically think in terms of decelerating to terminal velocity!
)The thing stopping me from giving it a whirl (besides the pockets
) is, if its stupid to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, then it must be idiocy indeed to jump out of a perfectly good spaceship....Are they talking about diving from orbital height or from orbit. These are very different things.
I've seen many designs for orbital height skydiving (anything over 5 miles up).
The problem with skydiving from orbit is shedding the 17000 mph of orbital velocity, which I would think a great deal more shielding than is in the suit, and would make it much hotter.
I've seen many designs for orbital height skydiving (anything over 5 miles up).
The problem with skydiving from orbit is shedding the 17000 mph of orbital velocity, which I would think a great deal more shielding than is in the suit, and would make it much hotter.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Looks like they can't mean orbit, it's just some 62 miles up 
That is barely what is commonly accepted as "space" so the article (surprise) should have been saying something like spacediving instead.
EDIT: Ah, just looked again and it does say "Dive from Space" after all. They did get it right!
I agree, escape from a stricken shuttle or the ISS is going to need something more to get down. But you all did know NASA has already done this work right, way back in the (pre?) Apollo days. I've misplaced the link and forget the project name but it is identical to the Traveller re-entry backpack kit.
That is barely what is commonly accepted as "space" so the article (surprise) should have been saying something like spacediving instead.EDIT: Ah, just looked again and it does say "Dive from Space" after all. They did get it right!
I agree, escape from a stricken shuttle or the ISS is going to need something more to get down. But you all did know NASA has already done this work right, way back in the (pre?) Apollo days. I've misplaced the link and forget the project name but it is identical to the Traveller re-entry backpack kit.
Last edited:
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
Well, if you have a jettisonable thruster pack to decelerate you from that ~17,000 mph to near 0 while you are still at least 60 miles up, then the rest is gravy... or is that "human pate' "?
More data on the suit:
First test dive = 22 miles
Later test dive = 60 miles (per Pop Sci article)
Eventual goal = 150 miles
More Data Here
NASA (JPL lab) doesn't see "anything fundamentally wrong with what they’re doing ... It’s just scary as hell.”
First test dive = 22 miles
Later test dive = 60 miles (per Pop Sci article)
Eventual goal = 150 miles
More Data Here
NASA (JPL lab) doesn't see "anything fundamentally wrong with what they’re doing ... It’s just scary as hell.”
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
Ummm, well, I think they're right about that....
:toast:
hunter
Ancient - Absent Friend
Nah I'd go for it! I loved just jumping out of a plane or helicopter while I was in the army. This would be a kick in the pants! Imagine the view
Hunter
Jeff M. Hopper
SOC-14 1K
How do they suggest getting the spacediver up to that altitude to dive in the first place?
By some form of rocket platform if I remember aright.
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
How about a mini-shuttle?
Put the space-divers in a passenger pod in the cargo bay, launch on a ballistic trajectory with a 65-mile apogee, and its "open the pod & bay doors, Hal" and jump out.
Put the space-divers in a passenger pod in the cargo bay, launch on a ballistic trajectory with a 65-mile apogee, and its "open the pod & bay doors, Hal" and jump out.
