Perlan Project: Exploring the Stratospheric Polar Night Jet by Sailplane (4/29/09)

Einar Enevoldson, Team Leader, Perlan Project; Aeronautical Engineer; Experimental Test Pilot

Discover how adventurers and scientists are attempting to harness one of the most incredible forces of nature known to man. A band of winds, sometimes exceeding 300 miles per hour, circles the Earth at high latitudes at altitudes around 100,000 feet. Existing only in the polar winter, it’s called the Polar Night Jet. The Perlan Project is an ongoing effort to soar unpowered up into the middle of this wind, into a region of the atmosphere not yet explored by aircraft. Enevoldson, former experimental test pilot at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, will discuss his recent notable flights with the late Steve Fossett, and the current plans, progress and future of the Perlan Project.

This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 29, 2009.

Commonwealth Club World Affairs

The leading national forum open to all for the impartial discussion of public issues important to the membership, community and nation. The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. Each year, we bring nearly 500 events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy to our members and the public, both in-person and via extensive online and on-air listenership and viewership.

The views of Club speakers are their own and their participation does not constitute or imply endorsement or recommendation by Commonwealth Club World Affairs.

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