science

StratEx Space Dive

StratEx Space Dive is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand StratEx Space Dive rather than just read about it. In short: On October 24, 2014, Alan Eustace broke the world record for the highest balloon flight and skydive of all time, releasing himself from a balloon at 135,908 feet. Details In 2011, Eustace decided to pursue a stratosphere jump and met with Taber MacCallum, one of the founding members of Biosphere 2, to begin preparations for the project.

Key takeaways

StratEx Space Dive belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect StratEx Space Dive to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of StratEx Space Dive from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

On October 24, 2014, Alan Eustace broke the world record for the highest balloon flight and skydive of all time, releasing himself from a balloon at 135,908 feet.

Details In 2011, Eustace decided to pursue a stratosphere jump and met with Taber MacCallum, one of the founding members of Biosphere 2, to begin preparations for the project. Over the next three years, the Paragon Space Development technical team designed and redesigned many of the components of his parachute and life-support system. The Paragon team integrated systems for the Stratospheric Explorer mission code named StratEx Space Dive.

On October 24, 2014, Eustace made a jump from the stratosphere, breaking Felix Baumgartner's 2012 world record. The launch-point for his jump was from an abandoned runway in Roswell, New Mexico, where he began his gas balloon-powered ascent early that morning. He reached a reported maximum altitude of 135,908 feet (41.425 km; 25.7402 mi), but the final number submitted to the World Air Sports Federation was 135,889.108 feet (41.419000 km; 25.7365735 mi). The balloon used for the feat was a zero-pressure balloon manufactured by the Balloon Facility of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad, India. Eustace in his pressure suit hung tethered under the balloon, without the kind of capsule used by Felix Baumgartner. Eustace started his fall by using an explosive device to separate from the helium balloon. His descent to Earth lasted 4 minutes and 27 seconds and stretched nearly 26 miles (42 km) with peak speeds exceeding 822 miles per hour (1,323 km/h), setting new world records for the highest free-fall jump and total free-fall distance 123,414 feet (37.617 km; 23.3739 mi). However, because Eustace's jump involved a drogue parachute, while Baumgartner's did not, their vertical speed and free-fall distance records remain in different categories. Unlike Baumgartner, Eustace, a twin-engine jet pilot, was not widely known as a daredevil prior to his jump. Eustace's world record jump was featured in two episodes of STEM in 30, a television show geared towards middle-school students by the National Air and Space Museum.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with StratEx Space Dive

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what StratEx Space Dive claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to StratEx Space Dive before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about StratEx Space Dive ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of StratEx Space Dive

In research: StratEx Space Dive appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses StratEx Space Dive in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: StratEx Space Dive is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Balloons (aeronautics), Parachuting in the United States, Space diving, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for StratEx Space Dive outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study StratEx Space Dive in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what StratEx Space Dive means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain StratEx Space Dive out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is StratEx Space Dive in simple terms?

On October 24, 2014, Alan Eustace broke the world record for the highest balloon flight and skydive of all time, releasing himself from a balloon at 135,908 feet. Details In 2011, Eustace decided to pursue a stratosphere jump and met with Taber MacCallum, one of the founding members of Biosphere 2…

Why does StratEx Space Dive matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study StratEx Space Dive?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on StratEx Space Dive.