Daredevil reveals his free-fall space jump suit
Felix Baumgartner, the daredevil who plans to do a free-fall skydive from the edge of space, has revealed the suit he will wear during his space jump.
As part of the Red Bull Stratos mission he will use a helium balloon to float to the edge of space before plummeting back to Earth.
The high-tech suit will need to protect him at temperatures of -56C and speeds of 690mph and in an environment with too little oxygen to sustain human life.
Tests jumps have already started to perfect the suit and they will want to get it right. If it fails his eyeballs could pop and his blood could boil.
Mike Todd, the Red Bull Stratos Life Support Engineer says the suit's exterior is made of a material that is both fire-retardant and an insulator against extreme cold.
Inside, the "bladder" is composed of a selectively permeable material surrounded by link netting. When the bladder is inflated, it will provide pressure at 3.5 pounds per square inch -- sufficient to prevent the expansion caused by ebullism.
An integrated control valve, the "brain" of the suit, maintains pressure automatically at various altitudes.
The shell of the helmet is molded from composite materials. Its visor, which is distortion free in the critical vision area, has an integrated heating circuit that must warm it enough to avert fogging and icing, yet not melt it -- a function doubly challenged by (1) a stratospheric environment that lacks air to draw away heat and (2) a potentially supersonic freefall that will encounter rapid changes in temperature.
The helmet will also supply Felix with 100 percent oxygen (from cylinders he'll wear), and it includes a microphone and earphones for communication with the Mission Control Center.
As part of the Red Bull Stratos mission he will use a helium balloon to float to the edge of space before plummeting back to Earth.
The high-tech suit will need to protect him at temperatures of -56C and speeds of 690mph and in an environment with too little oxygen to sustain human life.
Tests jumps have already started to perfect the suit and they will want to get it right. If it fails his eyeballs could pop and his blood could boil.
Mike Todd, the Red Bull Stratos Life Support Engineer says the suit's exterior is made of a material that is both fire-retardant and an insulator against extreme cold.
Inside, the "bladder" is composed of a selectively permeable material surrounded by link netting. When the bladder is inflated, it will provide pressure at 3.5 pounds per square inch -- sufficient to prevent the expansion caused by ebullism.
An integrated control valve, the "brain" of the suit, maintains pressure automatically at various altitudes.
The shell of the helmet is molded from composite materials. Its visor, which is distortion free in the critical vision area, has an integrated heating circuit that must warm it enough to avert fogging and icing, yet not melt it -- a function doubly challenged by (1) a stratospheric environment that lacks air to draw away heat and (2) a potentially supersonic freefall that will encounter rapid changes in temperature.
The helmet will also supply Felix with 100 percent oxygen (from cylinders he'll wear), and it includes a microphone and earphones for communication with the Mission Control Center.