A Quiet Trip to the Ozone Hole

Earth Science                                                                                                 Andrew Harwood

Current Event Report                                                                                   10/26/13

            Citation:

Wald, Matthew L. "A Quiet Trip to the Ozone Hole." The New York Times. N.p., 21 Oct. 2013. Web.

            The stratosphere is 15 miles above the Polar Regions, nearing outer space. This is where human made chemicals are constantly tearing apart our ozone layer that protects us from the extremely harmful UV rays emitted by the Sun. Scientists have always wanted to study this layer closely but have never been able to due to the technology that surrounds us. Besides, conventional airplanes only fly to 30,000 feet. Einar K. Enevoldson (81) came up with a new way to fly to these literally breathtaking heights. Dennis Tito and Steve Fossett, two men that will help Einar through this journey say that a glider will do the trick. Without the weight of engines or fuel, a glider can be lifted by natural atmospheric phenomena. The glider, named the Perlan project will have an 82-foot wingspan and only weigh 1700 pounds, including body weight. One of the most controversial topics talked about of the flight is that how are they going to breathe? Perlan I was a hundred pounds heavier and only got to about 50,000 feet. However, the men in Perlan I used pressurized suits, but Einar says that there will be no room for that in Perlan II. “The solution is to seal the tiny cabin as the plane ascends, and bleed off a little air through a valve so the cabin pressure mimics what it would be at 14,500 feet. The sealed cabin needs spaceship-style scrubbers to remove the carbon dioxide and the moisture that would otherwise produce ice on the windows and walls. There is no way to warm the plane — another consequence of lacking an engine — so the two pilots, who will spell each other during the long flight, will wear socks with heaters in their soles, Einar said.” With that set and done the two men will travel to the Andes Mountain range in El Calafate, Argentina. They plain will then be lifted by a, “crop duster” which will lift the to 10,000 feet. After that the glider, with only the assistance of the tornado-like winds will be lifted to their final destination of 90,000 feet. When they finally reach such a height, after more than four hours, the men will take samples using lasers to observe and measure concentrations of liquids. They will cruise at this height for a few hours and then practically nose dive back to Earth. They will than open the parachute in the tail, slowing them down and landing safely on the soil. If all goes well they will not only obliterate the record and hopefully come back with some data that can help us humans protect our much-needed ozone layer.

            This was is one of the most interesting articles I have ever read. This is so cool to even think that on can fly over 90,000 feet above sea level. It is yet another aspect of Earth Science that I truly cannot comprehend by just seeing the numbers. It is mind-blowing information and I am fortunate today to have the technology we have to conduct such a traitorous flight. The full fiberglass frame of the glider is hand polished and it the circular shaped windows are in place to keep the frame from breaking. If this actually works, we could be talking about a new breakthrough in science. We can possibly find a cure to the ozone problem. We could save the human race.

            Matthew Wald does a great job at really dragging the reader in. Who doesn’t want to learn about a plain with no engines reaching altitudes of 90,000 feet? That is truly mind-blowing. He does a great job on the facts and I like how he corrects one of his peers by stating how his facts were wrong. I can really comprehend this article and I even know the little details, like the professors that are critiquing Einar’s plan the only negative about this article is the length. I think it is about 30 paragraphs. Although the paragraphs were only about 10 lines long, I felt as though I was reading the article for a good forty-five minutes. In all, I really enjoyed this project.