Pressurized glider reaches new high altitude on journey to edge of space
Airbus Perlan Mission II, an initiative to fly a glider without an engine to the edge of space to collect ground-breaking insights on high-altitude flight, weather, and climate change, returned to flight this week at its U.S. headquarters at the Minden-Tahoe Airport. Perlan Project Pilots Jim Payne and Miguel Iturmendi soared the pressurized glider to its highest altitude to date, reaching 30,615 feet.
The Perlan 2 will spend spring soaring in the rising wind currents – called mountain waves – in the skies above the Sierra Nevada, before deploying in May to Argentina for its second year of flight operations in Patagonia. “This past year our team gained invaluable insight and experience from flying the glider in
and around the Andes Mountains,” said Ed Warnock, CEO of The Perlan Project. “Using that information, we’ve made improvements to the aircraft that will help us have even greater success this year, first in Nevada and later in Argentina, if the wave and weather conditions are optimal.”
