An extraordinary airframe for an extraordinary mission is making its debut at EAA AirVenture 2015 in Oshkosh, Wis. The two-seat Perlan II glider is pressurized to fly at the edge of space, which it will reach by riding stratospheric mountain waves that occur only in winter and in subpolar regions, in conjunction with the polar jetstream.
By soaring to 90,000 feet, this glider will break all the level-flight altitude records currently held by powered and unpowered aircraft, including those set by the fabled Lockheed Blackbird and U-2 spyplanes. It was just completed and has not yet flown.
The Airbus Group is sponsoring the project. According to Perlan Project board member Stephane Fymat, Airbus CEO Tom Enders replied almost immediately and in positive fashion to his email in January 2014 requesting help. Within a month, the two met in Washington, D.C., to seal the deal. Airbus said that besides pushing the boundaries of flight, the mission will help shed more light on Earth’s atmosphere and inspire future generations.
Those stratospheric mountain waves were properly exploited for the first time only in 2006, when the Perlan I glider flown by Einar Enevoldson and Steve Fossett reached 50,671 feet over the Andes mountains of Argentina. Enevoldson was a test pilot for Germany’s DLR and for NASA who had researched the phenomenon with meteorologist Dr. Elizabeth Austin. Fossett was the millionaire adventurer who first backed the project.
They used a converted German motor glider with the engine replaced by batteries and oxygen tanks. But in the cramped cockpit, the pressure suits that they wore for protection inflated too much for them to control the sailplane properly.
The Perlan team set about designing a purpose-built glider. But the following year Fossett disappeared with his airplane in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and the project thus lost its main sponsor. Now revived, the plan is to test fly the Perlan II in Oregon and Nevada this fall. It will then be shipped to Argentina for the world-record attempts next June.
Perlan II was manufactured in Redmond, Ore., by RDD Enterprises, which previously built the all-composite Lancair. It has a wingspan of 84 feet and a gross weight of 1,800 pounds. The cabin is pressurized to 8.5 psi (14,500 feet), and the structure must also cope with transonic flight, since its true airspeed in the rarified air at 90,000 feet will be 350 knots.
The crew will breathe 100-percent oxygen. Drogue and ballistic chutes are provided for emergency descents, if required. There will also be space for up to six small scientific payloads; together with NASA, the project is designing an ozone-measurement payload, and the agency is inviting other experiment ideas from students and scientists.
Now in his early 80s, Enevoldson is the chairman of project board. The team comprises another 26 members of various nationalities, ranging from designers, engineers and scientists to administrators and educators. They come from NASA, the U.S. Air Force, major universities and corporations.
The Perlan II team will discuss their mission on Monday, July 20, the first day of the Oshkosh show, at 10 a.m. on Stage 7.