000 03755nam a22004935i 4500
001 978-1-4419-9458-5
003 DE-He213
005 20140220083729.0
007 cr nn 008mamaa
008 110627s2011 xxu| s |||| 0|eng d
020 _a9781441994585
_9978-1-4419-9458-5
024 7 _a10.1007/978-1-4419-9458-5
_2doi
050 4 _aTL787-4050.22
072 7 _aTRP
_2bicssc
072 7 _aTTDS
_2bicssc
072 7 _aTEC002000
_2bisacsh
082 0 4 _a629.1
_223
100 1 _aSóbester, Andras.
_eauthor.
245 1 0 _aStratospheric Flight
_h[electronic resource] :
_bAeronautics at the Limit /
_cby Andras Sóbester.
264 1 _aNew York, NY :
_bPraxis :
_bImprint: Springer,
_c2011.
300 _aXXIV, 215 p. 76 illus., 30 illus. in color.
_bonline resource.
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
347 _atext file
_bPDF
_2rda
490 1 _aSpringer Praxis Books
505 0 _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 0 _aEngineering.
650 0 _aAstrophysics.
650 0 _aMathematics.
650 0 _aAstronautics.
650 1 4 _aEngineering.
650 2 4 _aAerospace Technology and Astronautics.
650 2 4 _aPopular Science in Mathematics/Computer Science/Natural Science/Technology.
650 2 4 _aExtraterrestrial Physics, Space Sciences.
710 2 _aSpringerLink (Online service)
773 0 _tSpringer eBooks
776 0 8 _iPrinted edition:
_z9781441994578
830 0 _aSpringer Praxis Books
856 4 0 _uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9458-5
912 _aZDB-2-ENG
999 _c106053
_d106053