Airbus sets sights on the stratosphere with glider flight
The air plane builder aims to test how well an aircraft and its crew can fare in conditions similar to those on Mars, with extremely thin atmosphere and bitterly cold temperatures
Airbus completed a test flight on Saturday of a glider set to eventually travel to the edge of space, in a pioneering step into the stratosphere.
The Perlan 2’s flight, from an airstrip in the western US state of Nevada, took place two hours after the planned 1.45am local time start time due to heavy rain.
It lasted just a few minutes – instead of 30 minutes to two hours as scheduled – because the aircraft is considered more efficient in dry weather, according to chief pilot Jim Payne.
“It was short,” said chief executive Tom Enders, who served as co-pilot, said after exiting the plane. “Because of the clouds, we couldn’t see any more otherwise we would still be up there.”
The flight, part of a series in recent months from the mountainous area just east of the Lake Tahoe resort, aims to test how well an aircraft and its crew can fare in conditions similar to those on Mars, with extremely thin atmosphere and bitterly cold temperatures.
Airbus, supporting the Mission Perlan 2 group that launched the ambitious project, aims to test every aspect of the unpowered aircraft, flying it at various speeds and altitudes and subjecting it to different scenarios of stress and vibration.