choppergirl
Well-Known Member
Weather Balloon lifts your glider to edge of space, you disconnect, and glide back down to earth...
Is this possible, and has anyone done it before, for a balloon to lift their glider from a point at the center of gravity, to the edge of space, and they disconnect and glide back down?
Assuming you had the proper oxygen equipment and heated suit, and a glider with control surfaces that would be big enough to work in the rarefied air?
Disconnect at any point you thought was plenty high for your taste and risk comfort level...
I guess over 10,000 ft, technically you would need some kind of license that allows you to fly IFR that high? Or does it matter not, if you are flying a weather balloon / glider hybrid ?
Cheap approaching near space flight theoretically within the reach of the home builder?
If it works, and it's a two person glider... --> cheap near space flight thrill seeker passenger business to make it pay for itself?
Technical problems you would face, or that would make this unfeasible?
Altitude x glide ratio = distance.
How high could you go (before balloon popped); what would your glide ratio curve look like (higher close to earth, less further up), and how far away could you land? (Disregarding wind + planet rotation)
I should think someone has figured out a formula/relationships somewhere for glide ratio at 1 atmosphere computed with air density in atmospheres at X altitude yields effective glide ratio.
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