Paper Aircraft Released Into Space
Encyclopedia
The PARIS project was a privately-organised endeavour undertaken by various staff members of the information technology
web site The Register
to design, build, test, and launch a lightweight aerospace vehicle, constructed mostly of paper and similar structural materials
, into the mid-stratosphere
and recover it intact. Staffers at The Register, inspired by the CU Spaceflight
Nova 1 project, formally announced their intention to initiate a project of their own on 30 July 2009. The aircraft's name was selected by polling
The Register's readership, and was subsequently dubbed Vulture 1 (in reference to The Register's own nickname "Vulture Central").
The use of the word "space" in the project's name refers to "near space
," not "outer space
," since it was not planned for the vehicle to ascend to an altitude above the Kármán line
(the "boundary" of outer space, defined by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
as 100 km (62.1 mi) above the Earth's surface); it is nevertheless a project that is closely related to the concept of private spaceflight
.
Lester Haines, Special Projects Editor (Iberian
Bureau) at The Register, as part of his reporting on CU Spaceflight's Nova 1 mission in 2006, and at the behest of Nova team member Carl Morland, mused that "El Reg might like to contribute something" as a payload to a future high-altitude balloon project, and invited the online magazine's readership to make suggestions as to what kind of payload package should be designed and built. After languishing for a few years in limbo, the balloon payload project was resurrected in July, 2009 as PARIS, an acronym for Paper Aircraft Released Into Space, the payload type having been decided sometime earlier.
The paper plane was successfully launched on October 28, 2010. The Register is now working on PARIS' successor, named LOHAN (short for "Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator", a balloon-launched rocket-powered aircraft.
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
web site The Register
The Register
The Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
to design, build, test, and launch a lightweight aerospace vehicle, constructed mostly of paper and similar structural materials
Structural material
Structural engineering depends on the knowledge of materials and their properties, in order to understand how different materials support and resist loads.Common structural materials are:-Wrought iron:...
, into the mid-stratosphere
Stratosphere
The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere near the Earth's surface, which is cooler...
and recover it intact. Staffers at The Register, inspired by the CU Spaceflight
CU Spaceflight
CU Spaceflight is a student-run Cambridge University society founded with the aim of achieving cheap access to space. It is supported by the Cambridge-MIT Institute.-History:...
Nova 1 project, formally announced their intention to initiate a project of their own on 30 July 2009. The aircraft's name was selected by polling
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
The Register's readership, and was subsequently dubbed Vulture 1 (in reference to The Register's own nickname "Vulture Central").
The use of the word "space" in the project's name refers to "near space
Near space
Near space is the region of Earth's atmosphere that lies between 65,000 and 325,000–350,000 feet above sea level, encompassing the stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. A more understandable definition would be above where a commercial airliner flies but below the realm of an orbiting...
," not "outer space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
," since it was not planned for the vehicle to ascend to an altitude above the Kármán line
Karman line
The Kármán line lies at an altitude of above the Earth's sea level, and is commonly used to define the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space...
(the "boundary" of outer space, defined by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
as 100 km (62.1 mi) above the Earth's surface); it is nevertheless a project that is closely related to the concept of private spaceflight
Private spaceflight
Private spaceflight is flight above Earth altitude conducted by and paid for by an entity other than a government. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pioneered space technology augmented by collaboration with affiliated design...
.
Lester Haines, Special Projects Editor (Iberian
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
Bureau) at The Register, as part of his reporting on CU Spaceflight's Nova 1 mission in 2006, and at the behest of Nova team member Carl Morland, mused that "El Reg might like to contribute something" as a payload to a future high-altitude balloon project, and invited the online magazine's readership to make suggestions as to what kind of payload package should be designed and built. After languishing for a few years in limbo, the balloon payload project was resurrected in July, 2009 as PARIS, an acronym for Paper Aircraft Released Into Space, the payload type having been decided sometime earlier.
The paper plane was successfully launched on October 28, 2010. The Register is now working on PARIS' successor, named LOHAN (short for "Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator", a balloon-launched rocket-powered aircraft.