Dude jumps without a parachute...? And lands in a net?

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by Nippelspanner

@Betonov
Nothing the guy did helped in any way or made anything clearer.
.

Maybe not for you.
Maybe not for me.
But maybe smart people are going trough any data he might have produced.

Originally Posted by Nippelspanner

Well then why not just land or drop them via plane/parachute?!

Because a paratrooper is a large clay pigeon under an even bigger piece of cloth that has a tendency to fail if perfurated by bullets.
The longer the soldier manages not to open the chute, the longer he is a veeeeeeeery hard target to hit and track.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Betonov

But maybe smart people are going trough any data he might have produced.

I would imagine a lot of calculations were done to make the jump as safe as possible. Calculations based on data we already know.

[August]

Originally Posted by Dowly

I would imagine a lot of calculations were done to make the jump as safe as possible. Calculations based on data we already know.

Very true but so are the calculations for putting a man on Mars. Still have to prove it by actually doing it.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by August

Very true but so are the calculations for putting a man on Mars. Still have to prove it by actually doing it.

Going to Mars is a very different thing because much of it relies on calculations without past experience.

Past experience from both sky diving and safety nets (+other experiments like G-forces) have provided us with a lot of data.

I really am a bit confused as to what new data this jump was supposed to bring us?

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by Dowly

I would imagine a lot of calculations were done to make the jump as safe as possible. Calculations based on data we already know.

Since Newton.
But practical data is always good to compare.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Betonov

Because a paratrooper is a large clay pigeon under an even bigger piece of cloth that has a tendency to fail if perfurated by bullets.
The longer the soldier manages not to open the chute, the longer he is a veeeeeeeery hard target to hit and track.

Even with HALO jumps, the trooper still has to open the chute at a high enough altitude to arrest his fall before he hits the dirt, and that means that radar will detect it. Which means there are two (at least) potential solutions, find some method to make the parachute RCS as small or non-existent as possible, or create a different way to arrest the fall of the trooper before he hits the deck.

[August]

Interesting graphic related to the discussion:



http://www.combatreform.org/llparachute.htm