Editing Perlan Project (section)

==History==
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2015}}
[[Einar Enevoldson]] conceived the project in 1992, after seeing the new LIDAR images of standing mountain waves west of [[Kiruna, Sweden]], that [[Wolfgang Renger]] of the [[German Aerospace Center|DLR]], [[Oberpfaffenhofen]], Germany had posted on his office wall. Enevoldson collected evidence on the location, prevalence, and strength of stratospheric mountain waves during the period 1992-1998. Starting in 1998 Elizabeth Austin expanded the data analysis and put the project on a firm meteorological basis, with the observation that the stratospheric polar night jet was the principal factor enabling the propagation of standing mountain waves high into the middle stratosphere. At this time a small group at the [[NASA Dryden]] Flight Research Center analysed the flight dynamics and aerodynamics of sailplane flight up to 100,000 feet.

In 1999, [[Steve Fossett]] heard that Enevoldson was trying to find funding, and immediately asked to join the project. [[United States Air Force]], on the basis of NASA request, loaned the project full pressure suits. A [[Glaser-Dirks DG-500]] (DG 505M) motorized glider was modified to remove all engine and related equipment and the space used for storage of [[liquid oxygen]] and a large supply of [[lithium battery|Li-SO<sub>2</sub>]] primary batteries. Most of the instruments and electronics were replaced with equipment suitable for the extreme altitudes that the sailplane would encounter. [[Duncan Cummings]], of [[San Pedro, California]], built special, lightweight, efficient, reliable faceplate heat controllers. [[Butler Parachute]] Company built special high altitude stabilized parachutes.

Enevoldson and Fossett flew the sailplane from [[California City]] for shakedown and preliminary high altitude flights in the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevadas]] of California, reaching over 42,000 feet in Spring 2002. In Summer 2002, the sailplane was shipped to [[Omarama]], New Zealand, where it flew during three winters without reaching the stratosphere. The timing was too early in the season.

Perlan Mission I was designed to prove Enevoldson's thesis by actually flying into and climbing these stratospheric mountain waves.  In 2005, the sailplane was shipped to [[El Calafate]], Argentina, a small town at 50° south latitude. Five attempts in a three-week period, none in favorable weather conditions, were unsuccessful. In 2006, the forecast offered very favorable conditions on 28 August but at 33,000 feet, in a strong climb, Steve Fossett's pressure suit inflated prematurely and excessively, and the flight was aborted. The next day, on 29 August, after one of the pressure suit regulators had been changed, the weather conditions were still favorable, the team made another attempt. After a four-hour climb, Enevoldson and Fossett reached the record altitude of 50,671 feet (15,460m), validating the concept.

Because the record flight of 29 August 2006 proved Enevoldson's thesis, Steve Fossett agreed to fund, progressively, the next mission: to build a special purpose sailplane with a pressurized cabin to fly to 90,000 feet. At the time of Steve's death on 3 September 2007, the structural and aerodynamic design of the fuselage had been completed, along with the aerodynamic design of the entire sailplane. Funding for the remainder of the Perlan Project was lost with Steve's death, and a search for new funding was begun.