000			03214nam a2200289za04500
001			17330
008			050703s2011 xxu eng d
020			_a9781441994585 99781441994585
082			_a629.1 _b223
100			_aSóbester, Andras. _eauthor. _935946
245			_aStratospheric Flight _h[electronic resource]: _bAeronautics at the Limit / _cby Andras Sóbester.
300			_aXXIV, 215 p. 76 illus., 30 illus. in color. _bonline resource.
490			_aSpringer Praxis Books
505			_aPreface -- Acknowledgements -- About the author -- Prologue -- Millimeters of mercury -- Part I: In a hostile environment -- Chapter 1: A sense of not belonging -- Chapter 2: Comfort Zone -- Part II: New heights of flight -- Chapter 3: A tale of two Comets -- Chapter 4: Higher -- Chapter 5: Faster -- Part III: 'Above the weather' -- Chapter 6: Deep freeze -- Chapter 7: Rivers of air -- Chapter 8: Rough ride -- Chapter 9: A gray area -- Part IV: Where next? -- Chapter 10: Higher still -- V. Appendices -- Chapter 11: Unit conversions -- Chapter 12: Temperature profiles around the globe -- References -- Index.
520			_aThe stratosphere is the highest layer of Earth's atmosphere where aircraft can still fly. The density of the air is just high enough here to generate lift on a wing or buoyancy on a balloon, so designing any stratospheric aircraft is a delicate technological balancing act for the engineer. Designing and operating an aircraft capable of conveying humans to the stratosphere is more challenging still: biologically, we simply do not belong up there. Temperatures often as low as -80C (-112F) and an ambient pressure rapidly diminishing with altitude make for an extremely forbidding environment. In fact, as we pass 50 000 feet (the lower end of Concorde's cruising altitude range), we enter the space equivalent zone - from a physiological point of view we might as well be in low Earth orbit. The fact that stratospheric flight is possible at all - moreover, even safe and economical, at least in the lower stratosphere - is made possible by some relatively recent advances in our understanding of the science of high altitude flight. This book charts some of these developments; at the same time, it is a catalog of ways in which the stratosphere can catch out even the well-prepared flyer. Naturally, the failures of early explorers have signposted many of these dangers, but, as regular news headlines and the series of vignettes that punctuate the book illustrate, the learning curve has not levelled off, it has merely become shallower. Stratospheric flight is still aviation at the limit.
650			_aEngineering. _996
650			_935254 _aASTROPHISICS
650			_923197 _aMATHEMATICS
650			_933580 _aASTRONAUTICS
650			_aEngineering. _996
650			_935255 _aESTRATERRESTRIAL PHYSICS, SPACE SCIENCES
650			_934527 _aPOPULAR SCIENCE IN MATHEMATICS, COMPUTER SCIENCE, NATURAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
650			_933584 _aAEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY AND ASTRONAUTICS
710			_aSpringerLink (Online service) _9111
856			_uhttp://springer.escuelaing.metaproxy.org/book/10.1007/978-1-4419-9458-5 _yir a documento _qURL
942			_2ddc _cCF
999			_c13955 _d13955