Stratos Science

Red Bull Stratos has enlisted the most advanced engineering and technology of our time. Advancements under development in each aspect of the mission aim toward an unprecedented achievement, and hold promise for future aerospace endeavors.

Red Bull Stratos is working with a leading group of technical partners to support the mission to the edge of space. The partner team includes David Clark Company, Near Space Corporation and Velocity Sports Equipment and is led by the mission's Technical Directors at Sage Cheshire Aerospace, Inc.

Sage Cheshire Aerospace, Inc.

Sage Cheshire Aerospace, Inc., offers the best services of leading technical minds in research, advanced composite design, engineering and fabrication to find solutions for a full spectrum of aerospace needs. Sage Cheshire is designing, building and testing the Red Bull Stratos pressurized capsule. The company also coordinates other vital aspects of the mission, from creating computer fluid dynamics to selecting crews and interfacing with outside agencies. For more information, please visit: www.sagecheshire.com.

High Altitude Balloon

The Red Bull Stratos balloon and launch systems are developed and produced by world-leading manufacturers, using state-of-the-art technology. Such very large balloons are capable of carrying payloads weighing as much as 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms).

As Felix Baumgartner's Red Bull Stratos mission begins, a 30-million-cubic-foot balloon is partially filled with helium and launched with the capsule section suspended beneath. As the balloon rises to jump altitude over the course of approximately two to three hours, the helium expands until the balloon reaches its full spherical size.

Material: The balloon is made of polyethylene film that is only 0.0008 inches (0.002 centimeters) thick. The film is cut into banana peel–shaped sections called gores and heat-sealed together to form the balloon envelope. Although thinner than sandwich wrap, these strips in total cover 40 acres and weigh about 3,000 pounds. Vent ducts at the base of the balloon allow excess helium to escape. All this results in low weight and high strength and reliability, the ideal combination for a safe flight.

Shape: At the time of launch, the balloon has a long, reverse-teardrop shape. As the helium gas expands due to the low pressure at altitude, the balloon shape becomes a round sphere. The size and shape of the balloon are calculated to consider the suspended weight and float (jump) altitude, in order to distribute loads uniformly and minimize the tension of the balloon's plastic film. All of these elements are critical to ensure safety.

Size: The height of the balloon at launch is close to 615 feet (about 187 meters). Because its elongated shape expands to a sphere as the balloon rises to 120,000 feet, the diameter at jump altitude is roughly 400 feet across (about 122 meters).

Near Space Corporation Near Space Corporation is a key commercial provider of high-altitude platforms and testing for NASA, NOAA, and DOD customers. NSC is proud to support Red Bull Stratos in this record-setting endeavor, with its potential contributions to the success of future stratospheric and space missions. NSC is supplying the project with stratospheric balloons, flight train hardware and related systems. www.nsc.aero.

Full Pressure Suit

To combat the challenges of the mission, the Red Bull Stratos team has produced a space suit specifically tailored for Felix Baumgartner. This full-pressure suit, refined and tested across a 36-month period, is constructed from lightweight synthetic materials developed over decades of use in high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and space exploration. With innovations including enhanced mobility, it may well serve as the prototype for the next-generation full-pressure suit.

A Suit Designed for Astronauts: At altitude, without a pressure suit Felix Baumgartner's body fluids would begin to "boil" from lack of atmospheric pressure (a potentially fatal condition called ebullism). To reduce the likelihood of decompression sickness, his space suit is designed to provide pressure equivalent to the environment at 35,000 feet.

The exterior of the full-pressure suit is made of a material that is both fire retardant and an insulator against extreme cold (likely around -5 degrees Fahrenheit when Felix jumps and possibly as low as -70 degrees Fahrenheit during his descent). Inside, the suit's "bladder" is filled with gases to provide the pressurization. The uninflated suit, without the helmet and visor, weighs approximately 28 pounds.

The pressure suit helmet has features including a sunshade, a heated visor to prevent fogging, and a two-stage regulator that supplies 100% oxygen at all times. When Felix exhales, his breath is vented into the suit, designed to maintain its pressure of 3.5 psi (pounds per square inch) during the initial phase of the freefall. The helmet weighs about 8 pounds.

David Clark Company David Clark Company has pioneered air and space crew protective equipment design, development and infrastructure since 1941, with products ranging from anti-G suits to space units.

David Clark Company's tradition of providing crew protective equipment for leading edge, manned aerospace programs continues into the future, as their designers apply their expertise to present and foreseeable needs, particularly in the areas of acceleration and high-altitude protection. Additional information can be found at: www.davidclark.com.

Capsule For Ascent

Engineered and developed specifically for this mission, the capsule is pressurized and thermally insulated for maximum protection from the outside elements. The capsule also houses all of the instrumentation, navigation and life-support equipment for the ascent to jump altitude.

The capsule is essential for Felix Baumgartner's safe delivery to the stratosphere, and it also serves as a back-up system in the unlikely event of pressure suit failure. Once at altitude, Felix verifies his pressure suit's integrity and depressurizes the capsule before opening the door to step off.

Technical Equipment: The capsule contains command and control systems as well as an emergency cutaway system. Also on board are oxygen and nitrogen tanks, radio communications and navigation equipment, transponders, and telemetry and control equipment. Cameras, recording devices and monitoring systems are mounted in the capsule (and on Felix) to track important data. These systems provide information about his condition and the environment inside and outside the capsule.

Material: The interior pressure sphere of the capsule, where Felix sits, is made primarily out of fiberglass, the most compatible material in combination with the acrylic door and windows. The pressure sphere is encased in a chrome alloy steel load frame (the "cage"), which connects to the capsule parachute system and the balloon. This assembly is covered with a foam-insulated skin, or "outer fairing," to provide thermal protection. The capsule's base is composed of aluminum honeycomb sandwich panel, outside of which are crush pads, composed of cell-paper honeycomb covered by fiberglass/epoxy.

Shape: The shape of the capsule is reminiscent of space re-entry capsules. The circular door and windows allow maximum visibility for Felix and the capsule's interior cameras without compromising structural integrity; and further, the door's large, sloped, circular opening is designed to provide Felix with ample clearance for his pressure suit, helmet and parachute as he steps out onto the platform.

Retrieval System

Felix Baumgartner wears advanced chest pack technology and a cutting-edge parachute system to aid his safe descent, while a retrieval system incorporating four parachutes is designed to bring the capsule back to Earth after he completes his jump.

Once Felix steps off the capsule, the chest pack serves as his technology hub, and his personal parachute system is the only means of slowing to a speed appropriate for landing.

Chest Pack: The chest pack container houses monitoring, tracking and communications systems such as a voice transmitter and receiver that connect to the helmet; GPS beacons to track Felix’s position; telemetry equipment to enable long-distance monitoring; an HD camera; and a unit that will report altitude (pitch/angle) and spin. Such information will be transmitted to the Mission Control Center in real time. The chest pack also enables reporting of FPS (feet per second) altitude and Mach number to Felix himself via a wrist monitor and audible tone monitors, and it contains batteries and a control system for defogging and de-icing the visor.

Personal Parachute System: Months of development have resulted in parachute system innovations including extraordinary drogue technology. A drogue is a small chute used for stabilization, and Felix’s drogue is unique in several important aspects: (1) it is constructed to be functional at supersonic speed, and (2) it doesn’t have to be deployed if extra stabilization is not necessary. A third, and revolutionary, aspect to the drogue is a G meter that measures both centrifugal forces and their duration to open the drogue automatically if, and only if, needed. Felix’s parachute system also includes a ram-air main parachute and a reserve (emergency) parachute, as well as two oxygen cylinders.

Velocity Sports Equipment Velocity Sports Equipment caters for a new breed of sport skydiver. Its founder, Kelly Farrington, grew up dreaming of solutions to extreme but mostly hypothetical jumps. The Red Bull Stratos project provides a very real opportunity for him to showcase his company’s unique design talents and creativity. Velocity Sports Equipment has built a specialized parachute container and harness system, incorporating a unique drogue system for complete stability. Unlike current sport and military tandem systems, however, there is no need to pull the ripcord to deploy the parachute; it’s automatic. www.velocityrigs.com

Possible Landing Area

Once Felix has touched down, the Red Bull Stratos team triggers a remote system to release the capsule from the balloon. A drogue parachute stabilizes and slows the capsule’s initial fall, after which a cluster of three parachutes deploys to bring the capsule to Earth. These parachutes, combined with the capsule’s crush pads, are designed to protect the cameras and research equipment inside the vessel, as well as Felix himself if an emergency situation requires him to return to the ground inside the capsule.

When the capsule is retrieved, the Red Bull Stratos mission team gathers information from the on-board equipment and cameras and examines the capsule itself to assess the efficacy of the design and effects of the journey.