Simviation Forum - Red Bull Stratos

Mar 21^st, 2012 at 1:59pm

machineman9 Offline
Colonel
Nantwich, England

Gender:
Posts: 5255

I have a bit of a question, for anyone who is in the know...

I had a look at the Red Bull Stratos gallery (a Red Bull ambition to beat the record set by Joseph Kittinger and develop a new space suit) and they have a picture of the launch capsule for the new pilot...

Have a look here

And I'm wondering... Why are there so many buttons?! I thought it was just a helium balloon with a giant tin can strapped to it.

Can anyone fill me in?

Cheers.

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #1 - Mar 21^st, 2012 at 6:03pm

Steve M Offline
Colonel
Cambridge On.

Gender:
Posts: 4097

Ah yes, why are there so many buttons? Just why are there so many buttons.. (Tapping fingernails on desk) So many butto.. Wait a sec, Whats the log book for? "I went up and jumped out" Grin

Flying with twins is a lot of fun..

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #2 - Mar 21^st, 2012 at 6:08pm

andy190 Offline
Colonel
This is the voice of the
Mysterons...
Havelock North, NZ

Gender:
Posts: 1368

Maybe the buttons are for controlling how much helium is in the balloon. Undecided

Intel Core i5-2310 CPU @ 2.90GHz, 6GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450, Windows 7 Professional 64 bit, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #3 - Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 12:05am

beaky Offline
Global Moderator
Uhhhh.... yup!
Newark, NJ USA

Gender:
Posts: 14187

Well, it is a lot like a spacecraft without a rocket motor.
You have the balloon and its related subsystems (lifting gas control, monitoring for that, heater possibly, emergency venting, etc.). Then there's the capsule: life support for the suit, comm and nav gear, etc... I'm not sure if it is, but if the capsule itself is pressurized, that's another whole subsystem (pumps, valves, sensors,etc.) There's probably more than one electrical buss for redundancy, and maybe redundant devices for each subsystem). So a few dozen switches and circuit breakers doesn't seem like very many to me. I'd imagine the units used in the Excelsior and ManHigh projects were similarly complicated.

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #4 - Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 5:39am

expat Offline
Colonel
Deep behind enemy lines!

Gender:
Posts: 8499

Because we are in the 21st century and everything has to be as complex and as expensive as possible. KISS went out the window after the last lunar landing Roll Eyes

Matt

PETA People Eating Tasty Animals.

B1 Boeing 737-800 and Dash8 Q-400

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #5 - Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 7:23pm

DaveSims Offline
Colonel
Clear Lake, Iowa

Gender:
Posts: 2453

I once read, the key to flying any aircraft is to use the shiny knob theory.

You are only supposed to use the shiny knobs, because those are the ones everyone else has used. If you move one, and the aircraft does something bad, put it back.

The other part of the shiny knob theory, stay away from any aircraft that the emergency knobs are shiny...someone has had exciting flights in this aircraft repeatedly.

Dave

www.flymcw.com

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #6 - Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 10:36pm

beaky Offline
Global Moderator
Uhhhh.... yup!
Newark, NJ USA

Gender:
Posts: 14187

DaveSims wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 7:23pm:

I once read, the key to flying any aircraft is to use the shiny knob theory.

You are only supposed to use the shiny knobs, because those are the ones everyone else has used. If you move one, and the aircraft does something bad, put it back.

The other part of the shiny knob theory, stay away from any aircraft that the emergency knobs are shiny...someone has had exciting flights in this aircraft repeatedly.

That reminds me of the axiom about landing lights:
"In case of an emergency landing off-airport at night, turn on the landing light so you can see where you will touch down.
If you don't like what you see, turn it off."

Back to top

IP Logged

	Search the archive: