Perlan 2 glider topped 26,000 feet in Argentina tests

The Airbus Perlan Project aircraft Perlan 2 “will fly to 90,000 feet at the edge of space to explore the science of giant mountain waves that help create the ozone hole and change global climate models. This will require the engineering of a spacecraft with glider wings that can fly in less than 3% of normal air density and at temperatures of minus 70 degrees C, conditions approximating the surface of Mars,” says the project’s website.

The Perlan 2 concluded tests in Argentina’s Patagonia region and returned to “the mountain wave capital of North America” in Minden, where tests will resume. In Argentina, the project learned key lessons for the bid to attain the stratosphere, said a project news release.

“Minden experiences optimal mountain waves in the winter, and the team will begin flight tests in November,” said a Perlan project media representative. “They think that this winter in the U.S., they have a shot at surpassing the 50,727-foot world gliding record set by the founder of The Perlan Project Einar Enevoldson in 2006. Then, team plans to return to Argentina next June to continue their mission to reach altitudes of 90,000 feet.”

Flying the two-place, 1,800-pound, rebreather-equipped glider to that altitude, atop 98 percent of the earth’s atmosphere—at a true airspeed exceeding 400 mph—would mark success in phase two of a three-phase effort that ultimately intends to fly the glider at 100,000 feet and explore the Northern Hemisphere polar vortex. In phase three, “flight speeds will increase to the point where the glider will need new transonic wings,” the project says.

The aircraft’s maiden flight took place on Sept. 23, 2015.

In August 2006, the Perlan 1 glider was flown by the late Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson, the project’s founder, to a glider-record-setting 50,772 feet at El Calafate, Argentina. The Perlan 1 glider is on display at the Seattle Museum of Flight.

Airbus became a partner of the nonprofit, volunteer Perlan Project organization in 2014.