Skydive From Space: An Informal Business Case

Only once in history has anyone managed to successfully skydive from over 100k feet in altitude: Colonel Joseph Kittinger, who had the backing of the United States Airforce.

Nick Piantanida made an attempt in 1966. Freefalling from perhaps as high as 120k feet, his mask depressurized at around 57k feet and he suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen. He remained in a coma for the last four months of his otherwise uneventful life.

Several others are planning attempts to break the record. I assume that one of them will succeed within the next five years. Possibly, one or more of them will die in the attempt, but I doubt it. And when they don't...

Let's discuss the components needed to bring near-space skydiving to the masses. And by masses, I mean up-to a hundred people a year.

Using a balloon like this:

http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/balloons.html

These use helium, which costs $60-$65 per thousand cubic feet. That doesn't sound like all that much, but consider that it needs almost 40 million cubic feet of the wispy stuff. That's $2.6M just for helium. Hydrogen, on the other hand, can be produced for around $2.50 per thousand cubic feet. In other words, for around $100k. Hydrogen is also 7% lighter. So, instead of an 8,000lb payload, you could go with 8560lb. This additional payload would be useful for the (hopefully) reusable emergency equipment that it would be nice to take along. It could even be used to accommodate electrostatic dispersal equipment (a network of fine, slightly-charged metal wires running through the interior of the balloon). I've never actually heard of anyone using active suppression in a balloon, so feel free to look into it.

Yes, hydrogen is risky compared to helium. Certain contingencies would require thoughtful preparation. Passengers would be trained to abandon ship at any time. Low-level disasters would actually be far more dangerous than high-altitude failures. Near the ground, spacedivers would wear large BASE jumping chutes. If the lifting envelope lit off only five hundred feet above the ground the twelve spacedivers would need to leave the gondola simultaneously. Thus, they would be too close together to release their chutes without interfering one with another. This could be solved with rocket dispersal packs. Each spacediver would be shot away from the gondola on a different trajectory. This would have the added benefit of getting the spacediver out of the path of the falling gondola. Who wants to land safely only to be squashed by falling debris? The fireball wouldn't be much of a problem (aside from being a fireball), since burning hydrogen flames upward. The falling gondola would pose a problem. To preserve the equipment carried aboard, the gondola would deploy a parachute of its own. If, for any reason, a spacediver failed to detach from the gondola, the gondola's own chutes would open a new survival path.

Spacedivers would wear heated, pressurized suits. Spacesuits. The gondola would also have a chamber that could be pressurized to normal atmospheric pressure and used for emergencies. It would also carry a pair of emergency back-up suits (in case you pick up hitchhikers on you way to the edge of space). If a spacediver became incapacitated and unable to complete their dive, they would take refuge, along with an attending medic, inside the safety chamber. This would either detach and ride down on its own chutes while the remaining spacedivers complete the program, or it could remain attached to the gondola and ride down at the end. This would depend entirely on the individual circumstances.

For the middle part of the ascent, spacedivers might gather together in the unpressurized safety chamber, or in a thermally insulated unpressurized tent. This would allow spacedivers to conserve heat and converse during the hours-long ascent. What would they talk about? Probably baseball.

Before making the ascent, spacedivers would breath pure oxygen for several hours, thereby removing dissolved nitrogen from their blood. Most likely, they would breath only a partial atmosphere (equivalent to the top of Everest, for instance) of pure oxygen during the entire flight program.

During the ascent, spacedivers would hook into a shared oxygen supply aboard the gondola. They would have individual oxygen tanks as well- carried on their persons at all times- which would provide emergency back up in the event that the shared supply failed. If the shared supply did fail, spacedivers would immediately return to earth.

Different parachute programs would be designed for jumps from different altitudes. Spacedivers would be trained for all possible jump parameters.

Jumping from over 100k feet would involve extremely high speeds. Colliding with another spacediver would likely segue seamlessly to death. Therefore, jumps would be staggered to prevent this undesirable scenario. Divers would pay a premium for the last (highest) jump slots. Each spacediver would also be assigned a vector, which, properly followed, would take her away from her fellow divers.

Spacediver landing zones would be spread out over a large area, as much as two hundred miles in diameter. Each spacediver would be provided with a retrieval team. Retrieval teams would be dispersed over the retrieval area and would arrange between themselves to retrieve diver closest to themselves without neglecting any. Divers would be equipped with mapping GPS and would be in general radio contact. Once a retrieval team had been assigned to a diver, the diver would switch to a direct channel. Automatic GPS locators would allow recovery even if the diver was unconscious or "other." Spacedivers should be adept at controlled flight and able to choose their landing area from high altitude.

A total payload of 8650lbs would allow for a 1800lb gondola frame built of carbon composites to sustain moderately high impact; 1400lbs of oxygen equipment; 350lbs each for twelve spacedivers (include the diver herself, suit, four main chutes, and diving oxygen), plus an additional 1360lbs for individual emergency chutes, dispersal rockets, pressurized safety chamber, two extra suits, and the gondola's own recovery chutes. This leaves a 500lb margin that could be used (just as an example) for baseball equipment.

Disclaimer: the gondola wouldn't provide very much of an outfield due to being the size of a small truck.

The gondola would be hexagonal, semi-rigid, and have three concentric zones. The outer layer is the jump platform. This would be open to the air. The middle layer, is an unpressurized, insulated solar tent. This would provide shelter from the blistering cold during the long ascent. In the center of the gondola would be the emergency pressure chamber. It would be large enough for two people to change into the back-up suits simultaneously, or for divemaster / medic to attend to a prone patient.

One divemaster would accompany each group. The divemaster would be the last to leave the gondola under normal circumstances. Under abnormal circumstances, the company would go out of business. This is a very dangerous idea.

Total costs:

Development: $6.3M (includes all administrative costs). $1.8M for entire parachute development program (run concurrent with test dives). Up-to $300k for hydrogen production plant. $600k for each of two gondolas, $800k for sixteen suits ($50k * 16). $1.8M for up to six test flights ($300k * 6). $400k for facility (rent is cheap in the desert, right?). Recovery vehicles would be provided by subcontractors paid $2k each per recovered spacediver / nothing if spacediver not actually recovered.

Per flight costs:
Disposable balloon envelope (recyclable): $20k
Hydrogen gas: $120k
Training: $16k
Retrieval teams: $2k / team = $24k.
Equipment retirement: $20k
Administration: $50k
Unavoidable insurance costs: $40k
Total per flight: $290k

Client cost per flight: $90k x 11 = 990k

Profit per flight: $700k.

Number of flights to recover development costs: 9

Two flights per month from May through October allows to become profitable after the first year and a half of operation. Prices could be lowered afterward to better accommodate supply / demand.

I have now extracted as much fun from this idea as I'm ever likely to extract.