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.

Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant

New High Speed Camera, Road Trip & a Mousetrap Challenge | Smarter Every Day 56

View All

Conditions for IVT and EVT: graph | Existence theorems | AP Calculus AB | Khan Academy

So we have the graph of ( y ) is equal to ( h ) of ( x ) right over here and they ask us, does the intermediate value theorem apply to ( h ) over the closed interval from negative one to four? The closed interval from negative one to four right over here…

2015 AP Calculus BC 2d | AP Calculus BC solved exams | AP Calculus BC | Khan Academy

Find the total distance traveled by the particle from time t equals zero to t equals one. Now let’s remember, they didn’t say find the total displacement; they said find the total distance traveled by the particle. So if something goes to the right by on…

Interpreting text features | Reading | Khan Academy

Hello readers! Today I’m going to be talking about text features, which is to say the parts of a text that aren’t just words. We look at text features to get a better understanding of what the text is all about. Although they’re not words, like I said, te…

How Did Michael Burry Predict the 2008 Housing Bubble? (The Big Short Explained)

Home ownership has long been the classic American dream, and throughout the decades, banks have continued to make new home loan products to help as many Americans as possible achieve that dream. Not to mention that governments as well have also been very …

Trp operon

Two of the most studied operons are the trip operon and the Lac operon, and what I want to do in this video is focus on the trip operon, which is essential for the production of tryptophan. Tryptophan, which you might recognize as an amino acid often asso…

It’s Over: Why The Middle Class Is Financially Screwed

What’s up guys, it’s Graham here. So usually when I see a mistake or something that shouldn’t be happening, I like to call it out and share my thoughts because investing is something I take extremely seriously, and today is no exception. During a time whe…

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

More Articles