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Project: World’s ceiling. First stage - Shuttlecock

1 stage. The SHUTTLECOCK program

The main idea of the WORLD’S CEILING project is a jump from the high-altitude aerostat to surface with the help of parachute equipment. Magomed Tolboev, the Hero of Russia, the test cosmonaut, the test pilot, the verifier of saving equipment, is the author and main executor of this project.

The planned altitude of jump is more 40 km that is higher than the world record – 31 332 m, which was established by the US pilot Joseph Kittinger on August 20, 1960. Kittinger used the parachute system – at the first stage he flew by the small stabilizing parachute for 4 min 36 sec and reached the speed of 980 km/h; then, at the second stage, he used the automatically introduced main canopy and reached surface in 13 min 45 sec.

This record is unbreakable for more 40 years, nevertheless active preparing for its breaking in France, UK, USA and Australia.

The matter is that the parachute jump by Kittinger and previous jumps from 20 – 25 km altitude show the danger of such a venture for jumpers.

Even little angular acceleration, which a jumper has got at the moment of leaving the aerostat gondola, leads to increasing angular velocities that make difficult the parachute opening and, in certain conditions, can lead to the loss of consciousness and even to death of the jumper from critic values of the centrifugal force, which appears because of his arbitrary rotation.
In conditions of the first stage of flight, that is carried out practically in vacuum, rarefied air does not give a velocity head sufficient for operating of any stabilizing aerodynamic device, so rotation goes on with increasing velocity.

The project by Magomed Tolboev consists of two stages:

- the first stage – SHUTTLECOCK - a descent from the above mentioned altitude
with the help of the parachute device designed by Scientific Research Center named after G.N. Babkin;
- the second stage – UMBRELLA – a descent with the help of the traditional parachute system.

SHUTTLECOCK

The program has such name because of some principal similarity of the parachute device with the badminton shuttlecock. The parachute device looks like an inflatable conic construction – “a dish” , in which the pilot lies.
Thanks to great research and test work of Scientific Research Center named after G.N. Babkin, now the SHUTTLECOCK program is in progress and can be fulfilled in June – July, 2003, in condition of sufficient finance support.

The record jump by Tolboev also has great applied significance. 
For descent from stratosphere the Inflatable Brake Device should be equipped with rather complex and expensive apparatus complex, which provides environmental conditions for the pilot, his communication with on-land facilities, remote control and managing processes on board of the aerostat and Inflatable Brake Device, control over flight parameters, seeking the pilot after his landing. 

For safety of manned flight of the device it is necessary to make some additional calculation, to carry out experiments in aerodynamic tubes, natural tests in various modes and, finally, a drop out of the aerostat the exactly similar model of the piloting device with a dummy on board for collecting of complex information concerning behavior in flight of the aerostat and the Inflatable Brake Device and also operation of all on-board systems.

General management over the WORLD’S CEILING project and the SHUTTLECOCK program is executed by “Aviation” Russian Corporation, the main executor of the project is the Scientific Research Center named after G.N. Babkin; the space suit, the pilot’s armchair and the environmental control system as a whole are designed by the Scientific Production Enterprise “Zvezda”, the aerostat – by FIRAN.

Sponsors of the project

The WORLD’S CEILING project and the SHUTTLECOCK program are totally commercial. ORT (Public Russian Television, I channel) is the general sponsor of the project. However, significant financial embedding, which is necessary for implementation of the project, demand more sponsors.

Sure, TV show of all stages of preparation and implementation of this record project gives great opportunities for advertising of sponsors’ products and business offers. But support of this great Russian scientific and technical project is also a significant patriotic action. 

Testing of the Inflatable Brake Device is a decisive pulse in developing of this revolutionary new type of parachute device, which can be used for descending loads and cosmonauts from a space orbit, for saving of high-altitude and sub-orbital aircraft crews in emergency conditions, for saving passengers and crews of airliners and light aircraft and even for saving of skyscrapers inhabitants in case of fire blockade or other emergency. It is the worthy attention initiative, isn’t it?

We believe in your support and hope that soon the Inflatable Brake Device will be broadly applied all over the world under the name of “Russian Lifeboat”

Magomed Tolboev
President of “Aviation” Russian Corporation

S. Panfilov
Project Coordinator

SHUTTLECOCK - Diagram of Flight

1 – take off 
2 – climb
3 – filling-in of the Inflatable Brake Device and its separating from the aerostat, H=40 km
4 – descent
5 – landing

Evacuation and Saving Equipment Based on Pneumatic Aerodynamic Devices

Basic technologies: inflatable dampers of landing capsule and inflatable brake devices of spacecraft

Saving equipment for cosmonauts in case of emergency at the space station or space rocket.
- separating compartment
- filling-in shell of the Inflatable Brake Device
- entering atmosphere
- deceleration
- landing

Equipment for load delivery from a close orbit
- start of deceleration power plant
- 180° turn of spacecraft, orientation, capsule shooting
- deployment and filling-in the shell of Inflatable Brake Device
- entering atmosphere
- deployment and filling-in the shell of Additional Inflatable Brake Device
- withdrawing the carrier from the descent trajectory of capsule.

Saving equipment for passengers and crew of sub-orbital tourist flights
- take off
- climb
- acceleration
- separating of the orbiter
- start of the orbiter’s power plant, additional acceleration until getting a sub-orbital trajectory
- flight along the sub-orbital trajectory
- the crew ejection
- actuating of the main Inflatable Brake Device 
- entering atmosphere
- actuating of the main Inflatable Brake Device
- landing

Saving of skyscrapers inhabitants in case of fire blockade or other emergency

- folded state
- deployed state

Parameter                                            Option of Inflatable Brake Device
                                                             small               medium               large
Saving weight, kg                                30 - 50              50 - 80             80 - 120
Weight of the device                             26.7                   28.6                   30
Max. Diameter of the device, m              5.5                     6.5                    7.5