Perlan Project
The Perlan Project is a current research project to fly a sailplane to an altitude of 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). Conceived by former NASA test pilot Einar Enevoldson, funded by record-seeking sportsman Steve Fossett, and piloted by both, a modified DG Flugseugbau 505M sailplane is will launch during very specific weather conditions. On account of these conditions, it will be able to fly straight through the tropopause, a layer of still atmosphere directly above the ground-level troposphere. Because the troposphere has no atmospheric currents, sailplanes generally cannot fly through it. The sailplane will continue into the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere dominated by large, smooth air currents. There, the it will seek a stratospheric mountain wave (SMW) that will carry it to a much higher altitude.
Based for a few years in Omarama, New Zealand, the project is currently seeking logistical support in Patagonia.
The conditions necessary for a successful flight are quite exceptional:
- The polar vortex overhead (occurring only in near-polar latitudes during winter)
- Prefrontal conditions
- A weak tropopause
- A gradual increase in windspeed with altitude
- Wind direction within 30° of perpendicular to the mountain ridgeline
- Cooperation of any present subtropical jet
- Strong low-altitude winds in a stable atmosphere
- Ridgetop winds of at least 20 knots
Phase one of the project, a proof of concept flight, has a goal of 62,000 feet (18,900 meters). Phase two, which will probably attempted with a custom-built glider, has a goal of 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). The current open-class absolute altitude record of 14,938 meters (49009 feet) was set over California City, California, in 1986 by Robert R. Harris with a Burkhart Grob G-102.