While the SR-71 achieved the record drawing power from two Pratt & Whitney J58 axial-flow turbo-jet engines, Perlan II will look to reach these dizzying heights by riding air currents over certain mountainous regions near the north and south poles that can reach into the stratosphere. It’s being touted as a historic moment in aviation, and a significant step toward the aircraft’s ultimate goal of soaring to 90,000 feet next year in Argentina.
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McArtor said in relation to Airbus’ decision to invest in the project, “We are asked to sponsor all kinds of things but we were drawn to this by its daring, the imagination involved in actually flying a glider to the boundary of space, and the fact that they knew what they were talking about”.
Ed Warnock, CEO of the Perlan Project, a nonprofit research group that designs and flies gliders at extremely high altitudes, said his team is excited the flight was successful.
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Next July, the glider will attempt to set a new world altitude record for any airplane-thereby opening up “a world of new discoveries related to high-altitude flight, climate change and space exploration”. With the backing of aircraft maker Airbus, the organization that is run by volunteers ultimately wants to take the pressurized sailplane that only has a wingspan of 84 feet up to an altitude of 90,000 feet by next year. The two pilots inside its cabin will have to breathe oxygen through a modern re-breather machine, similarly to what astronauts are using in spacecrafts. The craft will carry scientific instruments to study weather at the highest levels of the stratosphere, help improve our understanding of climate change with better data, take samples of the ozone layer, and gather a ton of information about what it’s like to fly at that altitude. In 2006, an earlier version of the Perlan glider was able to reach 50,727 feet. The scientists at Perlan intend to bring more and more advancements in the field of aviation, with their main objective being to create aircrafts that are capable of flying in the most extreme possible conditions our planet has to offer. This is because at such heights, the conditions that the glider will be operating in will be similar to that of Mars. Once detached, the aircraft can reach speeds of 400 miles per hour. The Perlan 2 flight could lead to innovations in operating aircrafts above the martian surface. The aircraft will require new transonic wings because of high flight speeds. The aircraft could pave way for new discoveries such as those that unravel the mysteries of weather, ozone depletion and climate change.
