Blog posts | Perlan Project

Blog

Perlan’s blog collects the thoughts and experiences of team members from the multiple disciplines needed to build and prepare the aircraft, plan the flight, and carry out the mission. Here, you’ll find insights from the designers, craftspeople, pilots, meteorologists, and support personnel who will make Perlan’s record ascents a reality. Perlan’s blog will be an opportunity to delve into the challenges and triumphs that travel with the giant sailplane.

Dennis Tito's Perlan Hangar

December 9, 2015 - The sponsors and volunteers behind Airbus Perlan Mission II, an initiative to soar an engineless glider to the edge of space, celebrated today the opening of the new Dennis Tito Perlan 2 Hangar at Minden/Tahoe Municipal Airport. The ceremony marked the start of a critical flight test program to prepare for a record-breaking flight in 2016 when project pilots will ride air currents to 90,000 feet, opening up new discoveries in high-altitude flight, climate change and space exploration.

Graphics installed on the Perlan 2 & the Trailer

On Monday, December 7, 2015, Grafics Unlimited installers arrived to put the graphics on the Perlan 2 and the trailer that holds the Perlan 2 for travel.

Installation went to well thanks to the help of the Minden-Tahoe Airport staff who arranged for the Perlan 2 and the trailer to be in a heated hanger near the new Dennis Tito's Perlan Hangar.

Here are pictures of the sponsor logos that were installed:

GVT done at ATA - Now onto Minden, with a stop at Gentex!

November 13, 2015

ATA has terabytes of data! The final day of testing went well, and the Perlan 2 headed for Minden, NV.

The Perlan team also dropped by Gentex for measurement of Oxygen masks for the BioMarine re-breather system.

Ground Vibration Test in San Diego & Media Photo Opportunity

Ground Vibration Tests at ATA in San Diego.

Perlan team of Einar, Morgan, Doug, Jim and Jackie brought the Airbus Perlan 2 glider to ATA Engineering in San Diego for Ground Vibration Testing (GVT). This gentle shaking will determine structural frequencies and damping that will be used to create a model for predicting flutter during flight. After 2 full days of data gathering all seems well at this point.

Perlan 2 Arrives at ATA for Ground Vibration Test

November 9, 2015

The Airbus Perlan Mission II has reached another major milestone, the Ground Vibration Test (GVT) of the Perlan 2 Glider. The testing is taking place this week at ATA Engineering, in San Diego, CA.

Ground vibration testing is often performed on experimental aircraft. It applies controlled vibration to the structure and then measures how the aricraft responds. Excessive vibration can cause a variety of problems in a aircraft.

Gliding Convention in Germany

Miguel Iturmendi made a presentation on the Perlan Project on Saturday, October 31, 2015, at the Gliding Convention that was held at the Convention Center in Freudenstadt, Germany.

It was a fantastic event! Hundreds of people received information and brochures about the Airbus Perlan Mission II. Around 1200 people attended the presentation. The event was busy and the Perlan 2 model and stand was at the entrance for the event. There was a high degree of curiosity and many questions answered regarding the aircraft and the project.

Teachers in Space - CubeSat Contest

January 11, 2016

Perlan CubeSat Contest: High Altitude Experiments with an Exciting Twist

Teachers in Space has teamed up with Perlan to bring space science directly into the classroom.

The Impossible Spar Has Been Saved

The wing spar that was impossible to assemble has passed its ultimate test. This was a really important milestone, more important than the first flight. We knew it was going to fly and we had enough analysis and simulation done to know what it would be like to fly. But this spar test was a much bigger unknown. We truly didn't know if it would pass the test.

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