He's got ballllls of steel.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

http://www.popsci.com/technolo...-fall

What a man, what a man, what a mighty good man...

[Red coupe]

http://www.popsci.com/technolo...-fall

What a man, what a man, what a mighty good man...

Yeah, saw that on another forum a day or two ago. Definitely pretty intense.

The dude who did it before lost his glove and his hand inflated to twice its size?!

Even as intense at it is... You think the guy will get bored half way? It IS a 7 minute free fall... After like 4 you think you'd be all like "Yeah, I get it.. I'm falling..."

[AZhitman]

Damn. This is awesome.

I'm no physics whiz, but it seems to me he's gonna have to work JUST to overcome drag and increase his terminal velocity.

The record-holder did 614 mph, he needs to exceed 768 mph.

But yeah. 30-40 seconds of subsonic speeds, then another 6+ minutes of free-fall? DAMN.

If he was TRULY badass, he'd be tweeting on the way down, lol... What a killer ad for the iPhone / Blackberry / Droid THAT would be.

[Infinitiguy19]

If he was TRULY badass, he'd be tweeting on the way down, lol... What a killer ad for the iPhone / Blackberry / Droid THAT would be.

And I thought you were going to say posting on NICO would be bad a**.

[Red coupe]

Damn. This is awesome.

I'm no physics whiz, but it seems to me he's gonna have to work JUST to overcome drag and increase his terminal velocity.

The record-holder did 614 mph, he needs to exceed 768 mph.

But yeah. 30-40 seconds of subsonic speeds, then another 6+ minutes of free-fall? DAMN.

If he was TRULY badass, he'd be tweeting on the way down, lol... What a killer ad for the iPhone / Blackberry / Droid THAT would be.

Wonder if you get better reception when you literally standing next to the satellite I dunno that he has to "work" to overcome it. Really nothing much he could do. I mean, they could throw rockets on him... but that kinda defeats the purpose.

He probably has to hit the most aerodynamic pose possible and hold it... I think the main reason they are going up that high is to get to where the atmosphere is so thin that there is very very little drag possible.

Holding himself ridged and as pointy as possible will likely get tiring, but other then that its not like he is gonna flap his arms to go faster or nothing... he is just along for a killer ride.

At any rate... I wanna see the video.

edit:Quote »Seems like the science part of this could be done without an actual human.[/quote]I hope this is none of us. Talk about missing the point.

[AZhitman]

I dunno that he has to "work" to overcome it.

He probably has to hit the most aerodynamic pose possible and hold it...

Holding himself ridged and as pointy as possible will likely get tiring,

That's what I mean.... imagine holding your arm out a car window at 80 mph... Even in a [rigid] knife-edge position, it's still effort. He's gonna be experiencing 10x that speed (then again, thinner atmosphere and all)...

Still, if he so much as gets a little "out of position", it's gonna be a hell of an effort to get back "in line"... Makes you wonder if there's the possibility of injury from a limb flailing about like a flag on an antenna, lol.

Regardless, I guess there's some benefit to all those slacker kids, sucking down Red Bull - We get to see cool s*** like this in the name of science!

[Red coupe]

That's what I mean.... imagine holding your arm out a car window at 80 mph... Even in a [rigid] knife-edge position, it's still effort. He's gonna be experiencing 10x that speed (then again, thinner atmosphere and all)...

Still, if he so much as gets a little "out of position", it's gonna be a hell of an effort to get back "in line"... Makes you wonder if there's the possibility of injury from a limb flailing about like a flag on an antenna, lol.

Regardless, I guess there's some benefit to all those slacker kids, sucking down Red Bull - We get to see cool s*** like this in the name of science!

Red bulls marketing is amazing to me...

I was just going to post something up about how there has to be a very real chance of injury if a limb got caught in the wind and the possibility of them kinda strapping limbs together...Buy you know what? I think it is no different then any other skydive with regards to the wind flying by him and what not.

If you really think about it, terminal velocity is the point where so much wind is hitting you, its actually pushing you back enough to equal your weight, so that the force it puts on you is equal to the force gravity puts on you and you stop accelerating.

So the amount of wind hitting him probably wont be much different, it can't be more then his weight after all or he would have stopped going faster before he got to that speed.

He WILL be going much faster, but the air will be a lot thinner so he will be pushing less of it out of the way (and less of it trying to push him out of the way)

The suit aside he wont necessarily be any slicker then any other skydiver, and drag depends on the density of the fluid (air) so he actual forces on him should be the same. (other then the fact that with out a pressurized suit his body will want to pop)

[MinisterofDOOM]

The record-holder did 614 mph, he needs to exceed 768 mph.

768mph is the speed of sound at sea level, but as altitude increases (and air density decreases) the speed of sound drops. At 4200 feet (Salt Flats) it is in the 740mph region. At 30,000 feet it's only 648 mph. So 614 was probably damn close to breaking the sound barrier depending on the altitude it was reached at.

[Ozzie]

If he needs to go faster, he should strap some of these to himself....

[MinisterofDOOM]

Or wear a suit with golf ball dimples.

[Pieceofsand]

i guess red bull gives him wings.

[car nut]

You think the guy will get bored half way? It IS a 7 minute free fall... After like 4 you think you'd be all like "Yeah, I get it.. I'm falling..."

That's exactly what I was thinking.

[Ling Ling]

I think being able to see the world like he will would be a humbling experience. I for one can't understand it's beauty and it's size. Sure text books tell you, but you only get so much from reading numbers and seeing pictures. There's a lot time for something to go wrong with his suit. I don't know if I'd be more excited or scared sh*tless. Probably scared sh*tless.

I would LOVE to do something like this. Not to the extreme Felix is going, but I've always wanted to do some base jumping.

But yes, he does have

[themadscientist]

Why would he go supersonic in a free fall. Terminal velocity for a falling object should be much less than that.

[snwbrdr435]

I came in here expecting this

[snwbrdr435]

This was done in the 60s i believe USAF testing to see if you could jump out of a craft in space and land safely on earth.

[Red coupe]

Why would he go supersonic in a free fall. Terminal velocity for a falling object should be much less than that.

drag depends on the density of the fluid (air)

When your falling you reach terminal velocity because you are hitting so many particles of air, all of which have some mass. To get by you have to push the particles out of the way, which means they push back on you.

The faster you go, the faster you are trying to push them out of the way, the harder you are pushing on them and the harder they push back on you.

At some point, the force they push back on you with (your drag) is equal to your weight... This is terminal velocity.

If you picture a column of air that goes all the way to outer space, the density of the air at the bottom of that column comes from the fact that it has the weight of all the other air on top of it. As you move up in that column there is less weight compressing the air, so it spreads out more and gets thinner.

This is the whole reason he has to jump from so high.... Its not so he has enough time to reach the speed, sky divers easily hit terminal velocity at much lower altitudes...Notice they anticipate him reaching the speed of sound only 30 seconds into an almost 7 minute free fall. The height is so he can be falling through air that is thin enough to limit drag to the point where he can achieve the speeds he is aiming for.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

In regards to the threat of him injuring himself from limbs flapping in the wind....I think the suit he is wearing has some kind of rigid frame built into it.

[Red coupe]

In regards to the threat of him injuring himself from limbs flapping in the wind....I think the suit he is wearing has some kind of rigid frame built into it.

I still say it wont be anymore violent then any other freefall at terminal velocity.

[horubeets]

link nsfwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoHlgfRrs8I

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

Yeah but he'll be hitting the denser atmosphere going extremely fast...or will that not matter. How much heat will he build up? I NEED TO KNOW.

[Red coupe]

Yeah but he'll be hitting the denser atmosphere going extremely fast...

Don't really know much about atmosphere stuff... But it should be a steady change, so he wont "hit" anything, air will just get thicker and thicker and he will steadily slow down.

Heat...who knows. The article talks about the suit having to deal with going from freezing cold to "the extreme heat of the dive"... I am sure things will get warm.

Should be interesting.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

I cant wait for the press release video where they show a burning fireball of bloody pulp and twisted limbs.

[danshaz82]

isnt terminal velocity of an average human 120 mph? they did a test about it on mythbusters at one point

[Urabus GodofTraction]

768mph is the speed of sound at sea level, but as altitude increases (and air density decreases) the speed of sound drops. At 4200 feet (Salt Flats) it is in the 740mph region. At 30,000 feet it's only 648 mph. So 614 was probably damn close to breaking the sound barrier depending on the altitude it was reached at.

The speed of sound is temperature, not density dependent. Well, for a gas, anyway. When we look to calculate true airspeeds and then groundspeeds based on Mach, we look at the temperatures at altitudes.

Edit: Mach, not Mac.
Modified by charlieo at 11:16 PM 1/26/2010

[Dattebayo]

Why would he go supersonic in a free fall. Terminal velocity for a falling object should be much less than that.

http://www.ucar.edu/learn/1_1_2_2t.htm

[Rev_D21]

Reminds me of this cool BOC video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrBZeWjGjl8

[bcar240]

The speed of sound is temperature, not density dependent. Well, for a gas, anyway. When we look to calculate true airspeeds and then groundspeeds based on Mac, we look at the temperatures at altitudes.

The "minimum" speed of sound in normal atmospheric ranges (not including the outer layers) is around 40-65,000 ft, it actually goes back up again slightly above that.

And like others have said, the pressure at 100,000 ft is only 1% what it is at sea level, it's a pretty respectable vacuum. There is not a lot of air to cause drag up there. As for heating, I would suspect he won't get really *that* hot only going just around the speed of sound, and even so there is probably enough mass in the suit that it wouldn't heat up a lot in the few minutes he spends at the high temperatures before slowing down in denser air.

[Red coupe]

isnt terminal velocity of an average human 120 mph? they did a test about it on mythbusters at one point

When your falling you reach terminal velocity because you are hitting so many particles of air, all of which have some mass. To get by you have to push the particles out of the way, which means they push back on you.

The faster you go, the faster you are trying to push them out of the way, the harder you are pushing on them and the harder they push back on you.

At some point, the force they push back on you with (your drag) is equal to your weight... This is terminal velocity.

If you picture a column of air that goes all the way to outer space, the density of the air at the bottom of that column comes from the fact that it has the weight of all the other air on top of it. As you move up in that column there is less weight compressing the air, so it spreads out more and gets thinner.

This is the whole reason he has to jump from so high.... Its not so he has enough time to reach the speed, sky divers easily hit terminal velocity at much lower altitudes...Notice they anticipate him reaching the speed of sound only 30 seconds into an almost 7 minute free fall. The height is so he can be falling through air that is thin enough to limit drag to the point where he can achieve the speeds he is aiming for.

No, there is no one terminal velocity for a human. Terminal velocity is based on drag, drag is based on shape and density of fluid. Air gets less dense high up. He is going high enough that there is almost no air, so almost no drag.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Remember, the earth's gravitational effects extend far beyond the atmosphere.