Tag Archives: skydiving

The Ascent Pod literally takes skydiving to the next level!

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The year was 2012 and Felix Baumgartner was all ready to make history. He climbed into the Red Bull Stratos, a helium balloon that would carry him to a dizzying altitude of 39 kilometers, before he made a leap of faith, plummeting to earth in what would be the world’s highest sky-dive. Baumgartner’s entire journey to land lasted approximately ten whole minutes, in which he managed to break the sound barrier, setting a world record. Baumgartner’s entire jump was live-streamed on the internet, giving the world a taste of high-altitude skydiving… and that inspired Charles Bombardier and Ashish Thulkar to start imagining what the sport would look like if it ever took shape.

Behold the Ascent, a portable rocket pod designed as an entry level experience for potential space tourists and skydivers. “The base of the rocket pod houses turbine jets which provide extremely high power to weight ratio and allow the appropriate thrust required to propel the Ascent over 150 km/h up to altitudes of 15 000 feet”, says Bombardier, the man behind the idea of the Ascent. The Ascent’s fuselage comes with large glass windows, providing a stellar view of your surroundings as you ascend into the sky. Once the Ascent reaches maximum climb, it begins making its way down to earth. Riders can either skydive at 12000 feet, or ride the rocket pod back to earth, in what would be perhaps one of the most thrilling high-altitude experiences ever made for the public!

The Ascent is designed to be extremely lightweight when un-fueled, making it easy to transport on a trailer to the site of take-off. Designed to democratize stratospheric flight, the Ascent goes to the same altitude as a plane does, but makes the journey much more awe-striking in remarkable 360° visibility!

Designer: Ashish Thulkar and Charles Bombardier for Imaginactive

ICYMI: Relax while a robot takes care of your yard work

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Today on In Case You Missed It: Kobi is a yard work robot that is purportedly able to clean leaves, mow the lawn and shovel snow, though the promo video shows it very briefly moving snow only, so stand by for reviews on that rush purchase. Meanwh...

What Flying Through A Tiny Hole On The Side Of A Mountain At 155mph Looks Like

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Wingsuit/BASE jumper extraordinaire Alexander Polli has more guts than the average man. Or perhaps you think a smaller portion of his brain is dedicated to self-preservation, depending on how you see things. But one thing is sure: watching him zip through a hole in a mountainside at 155mph sure gives us some perspective over how safely most of us conduct our lives.

Watch the video above, and then reflect about the most exciting thing you’ve done lately… and be sad.

[ Alexander Polli ] VIA [ TheAwesomer ]

Recon Instruments offers Flight HUD goggles for wingsuit pilots and skydivers

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Recon Instruments offers Flight HUD goggles for wingsuit pilots and skydivers

Recon Instruments has decided to take its wares off the slopes and into the air, provided enough people bite. The Flight HUD is built around the same core as its ski goggles, but has been tweaked to offer information more relevant to skydivers, base jumpers and wingsuit pilots. The tiny LCD just below the field of vision displays speed, altitude and glide ratio in real time. Rather than simply guess how fast they're going, adrenaline junkies will be able to see accurate data in the moment and make the appropriate adjustments. Obviously, this is a rather niche market, so Recon Instruments has set a goal: 250 pre-orders to trigger a production run. The early birds can pick up a Flight HUD for $299, while every order placed after the initial 250 will cost $349. To get a run down of the proposed product from renowned aerial daredevil Jeb Corliss check out he video after the break.

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Recon Instruments offers Flight HUD goggles for wingsuit pilots and skydivers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leap of faith: Felix Baumgartner’s historic jump from the edge of space

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Leap of faith Felix Baumgartner's historic jump from the edge of space

BASE jumping might just be about to enter the mainstream. What has typically been considered a fringe activity, reserved for thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies, could soon be firmly cemented in the public view. For the uninitiated, BASE jumping is like skydiving, without the plane. Participants throw themselves off bridges, antennae, buildings, cliffs, and well, whatever high object they can find. It's not illegal, "in theory", but as many of the chosen launch spots are public or private property -- or pose a risk to public safety -- gaining access to, or jumping from them, can mean stepping over the legal line.

This otherwise obstreperous activity has largely kept to itself, occasionally popping up in magazines, or YouTube videos, but -- all going well -- on Monday that changes. Serial boundary pusher (of wing suit across the English Channel fame) Felix Baumgartner is set to leap, in the most literal sense of the word, from relative obscurity into the history books. How? By jumping to earth from the edge of space, likely breaking the sound barrier as he does so. How does one go from humble Austrian beginnings to a capsule 120,000 feet (about 23 miles) above the Earth's surface? Make a comparatively tiny leap past the break to find out.

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Leap of faith: Felix Baumgartner's historic jump from the edge of space originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Caption Contest: HTC’s down-to-earth photo shoot

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With the Android handset market as jam-packed as it is, it can be tough to distinguish your device from the maddening crowd. We've seen some bizarre and sublime attempts to do so over the years, but few have reached the terminal velocity of HTC's skydiving fashion photoshoot aimed at promoting its new One line of phones. Has the company hit the bullseye here, or is it and its accompanying light-headed skydivers destined to splatter all over the advertising landscape? It just might take a caption contest to find out for certain.

Zach Honig: "If I make this reverse overhead shot do you promise to attach a parachute to my string?"
Sean Buckley: "Drop test #3 will commence in 3.. 2.."
Christopher Trout: "Who needs a facelift when you have wind effects like these?"
Darren Murph: [Yelling, to combat the wind] "WHY DO WE HAVE FOUR PEOPLE TO PROMOTE THE ONE LINE?"
Brian Heater: "Another dropped call from AT&T."
Myriam: "Looks like we fixed that bug in the accelerometer! It's working just fine right now..."
Tim: "Hang on, trying to decide which Instagram filter to apply... so many choices..."
Michael: "Well, whaddya know, Face Unlock works while free-falling at 10,000 feet!"
Zach Lutz: Despite the fabulous view, Guy couldn't resist his overwhelming urge to check for available software updates.
Sharif Sakr: As if throwing Dr Dre and his Beats Audio out of a plane wasn't enough, they had to shoot him in the back with an arrow.
Richard Lawler: What do you mean there aren't any FourSquare badges for this?
Jose Andrade: "Don't move. I'm almost done with this DrawSomething drawing"
Billy Steele: "You just hold the phone and I promise I'll pull the 'chute. Maybe."

Caption Contest: HTC's down-to-earth photo shoot originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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