San Diego

Scientists Working to Fly Glider to Edge of Space, Break Records

Scientists are working on perfecting a pressurized glider that will attempt to fly to the edge of space next year, higher than any glider has ever been before. 

The Perlan 2 glider, a pressurized sailplane designed to ride air currents, is spending the week in San Diego's Sabre Springs as ATA Engineering, where San Diego scientists are running tests on the glider. 

Chief Pilot Jim Payne, a San Diego resident, hopes to sail the plane to new heights and break the world record of 55,822 feet, held by the late Steve Fossett. Come next year, Payne hopes to soar up to 90,000 feet --- and he says he can't wait.  

"We, of course as adventurers, wanna see how high we can fly," Payne said. "The airplane is unique, no one's built a pressurized sailplane that's been successful, so we'll learn about pressurization systems and airplanes."

The glider first took flight in Oregon, where the plane was built. Testing will continue in Nevada next spring before it heads to Argentina for the winter, where it will attempt sailing up to the edge of space. In between then, the glider will take small journeys as tests to prepare for their journey to reach 90,000 feet. 

The strong winds in the polar vortex will create updrafts that can propel the glider up to 90,000 feet. 

"It is near space," said Ralph Billhart, the Vice President of Testing at ATA Engineering. "It's in the same altitude range as some of the other passenger vehicles are being developed for now."

Payne said that at that level, he and his co-pilot will also be able to observe the ozone layer and polar vortex. They will be taking ozone and aerosol samples which will help scientists study climate change, ozone depletion and how to fly in the atmosphere on Mars. The goal of the flight is multi-faceted. 

The flight will be a dream come true for Payne. When he was at the Air Force Academy in the 1970s, Payne wrote a paper on how to fly a glider at high altitudes. 

He hopes this journey will inspire other young students to want to study engineering and aviation. 

"There’s still a lot of things out there we don’t know about and it would be great if we could inspire some folks to study engineering," Payne said. "If you look at the future, we’re going to need many more engineers."

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