"We’ve all heard of the ozone layer in Earth’s atmosphere. But actually going to study it, where the air is too thin for a conventional aircraft, is another thing.
"Next summer a private research effort intends to achieve that goal by soaring more than 90,000 feet (27.4 kilometers) above South America in a super-light, state-of-the art glider called Perlan 2.
"Perlan 2 will use an ingenious trick to get to where no manned, wing-borne aircraft has ever gone. After being towed and released by a conventional aircraft to 10,000 feet (3 kilometers), it will catch winds from the Pacific Ocean. These winds are being deflected by the Andes Mountains to create a mountain wave – basically, a moving wall of air with energetic updrafts that can rise 30 feet (9 meters) per second.
“The mountain waves will carry the Perlan 2 halfway to the ozone layer, where it will switch over to riding the Antarctic’s polar vortex, a powerful cyclone of winds that swirls around the South Pole in the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. Once the aircraft gets that boost, it will soar even higher.”
“Soon We Could Glide to the Edge of Space Without an Engine”