Flight at the Edge of the Ozone Layer | One Strange Rock

2m read

·Nov 11, 2024

NARRATOR: 30 years ago, we discovered man-made chemicals had punched a hole in the ozone layer. Is that hole here to stay, waiting around to kill us? Today, we're trying hard to find out. Morgan Sandercock is about to test an experimental plane, perfect for sampling ozone.

MAN: (ON RADIO) Copy that. So I felt pressure rising.

MORGAN SANDERCOCK: (VOICEOVER) We think we can go as high as 90,000 feet.

MAN: (ON RADIO) Jim, you ready to go?

JIM PAYNE: (ON RADIO) We're ready.

MORGAN SANDERCOCK: (VOICEOVER) That's the big boy territory. That's where things can go wrong very, very quickly. If we lose cabin pressure, then, the pilots could very easily pass out. And we don't have any automatic systems to recover from that.

WOMAN: (ON RADIO) Getting ready to roll.

NARRATOR: Now, a glider might sound like a dangerous choice so high up. But gliders don't have engines, which means they can't pollute the team's samples.

MAN: (ON RADIO) Confirm [inaudible] off.

WOMAN: (ON RADIO) [inaudible] is off. Wing wheel is off.

MAN: (ON RADIO) Been running at 11:32.

MAN: (ON RADIO) 11:32. Written down in GPS 5.

MAN: (ON RADIO) Airborne. [music playing]

NARRATOR: The Perlan glider uses air rising over the Southern Andes to reach extraordinary heights.

MAN: (ON RADIO) Airspeed, 70 knots. Looking beautiful.

MAN: (ON RADIO) Yeah?

MAN: (ON RADIO) Really high.

MAN: (ON RADIO) Traffic.

MAN: (ON RADIO) Yeah.

NARRATOR: 52,000 feet up makes this the highest glider flight ever. But you've got to get this high to get a great picture of the ozone layer. The good news is that thanks to a global ban on ozone-harming chemicals, it looks like the hole is healing up. Our shield is regenerating.

Quotient rule | Derivative rules | AP Calculus AB | Khan Academy

Setting Up Camp in a Tree | The Great Human Race

View All

The Dark Side of Romance: Is Love Worth It?

Is love all you need? Current societal narratives tell us that romantic love is an ‘ultimate concern;’ it’s the highest goal a human being can attain. We’re all after it; many, if not most, books, poetry, music, and films revolve around it. Ultimately, be…

The Power Of Journaling | Stoic Exercises For Inner Peace

Journaling is the habit of keeping a diary or log about our experiences, ideas, insights, and anything else that life evokes in our minds. The Stoics have a long-standing tradition in journaling, with Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations as clearest evidence. Wri…

$1000 per month from DIVIDEND stocks? (Passive income from investing)

1,000 of dividend income per month? That sounds like the absolute dream! How nice would that be? Every month, just for being an investor in a couple of companies, you’re getting paid a thousand dollars. You didn’t even have to do anything for that money. …

Answering Google's Most Asked Questions of 2023

We can learn a lot about ourselves and the state of the world through our Google searches. What we ask the internet is not only a reflection of what we want to know, but also what we desire and fear. In 2023, people search for everything from deep questi…

The Excavation of Tutankhamun’s Mummy | King Tut in Color

NARRATOR: At last, in October 19, 2005, after three years of excavating Tutankhamun’s tomb, Howard Carter and his team begin to open the king’s coffin. Lifting its lid exposes another shroud. When Carter carefully peels that back, he discovers a second gi…

Know your product.

I start off my day by arriving early at the office and closing a deal on a private jet sale in Asia. You know we always tell people, “We want you to hate us today, not the six on.” From so we’re giving you all the bad news now, and if you can live with al…

Flight at the Edge of the Ozone Layer | One Strange Rock

More Articles