Financed by the aerbus company Airbus, Perlan is developing gliders designed to fly to the space border. Recently, the developers have reported on new successful tests of the glider and a new height record, which the aircraft was able to set.
The first version of the Perlan glider took to the air in 2006 and was able to fly up to a height of 15 kilometers. After that, the company began problems associated with the death of its founder. But the remaining team after some time resumed development and began to search for investors. In 2014, Airbus agreed to be the main sponsor of the project and began funding the creation of Perlan 2.
After a few years of development and testing, Perlan 2 finally flew off and was able to fly almost a kilometer above its predecessor. Ascending air flows allow the glider to fly, so it was not so easy to reach such an altitude to an immobile aircraft.
The record turned out due to a successful coincidence of circumstances, because ascending air flows reach the stratosphere far from everywhere. The Argentinean parts of the Andes are one of the few places like that, and it only happens so a few times a year to fly, ”say the developers of Perlan 2.
In the near future, Perlan 2 will pass a few more tests, and then go to the US state of Nevada to continue testing, where the company's engineers will continue to work on its design, based on the data obtained during the tests.
The next task that the developers set for themselves will be even more difficult - in the future they plan to improve the glider so that it can rise to a height of 27 kilometers. Judging by the data they have, this may well turn out. Date of the next flight is not called.
The article is based on materials .
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