There are many practical applications for this. I think of it this way, there a lot of space junk to be harvested every day.
These capsules can replace long airline trips without the dumping of carbon dioxide emissions into the troposphere.
This method of reaching the upper 'spheres' of Earth before deep space and burning up on entry is by far the least expensive and most user friendly of all means of transportation in this venue.
It is a an incredible undertaking and Mr. Baumgartner was more than confident of his outcomes. He had no worries. This is nothing but pure Earth Physics. It cost NO ENERGY to do this. And the capsule can return to Earth with more perfection of this methodology. Someone should be holding patents on this and its future, it definitely has one. AND, the future needs to be nurtured for its benevolence, so the patent holders need to protect the outcome of this methodology of this technology.
This methodology can also be used as a rendezvous 'partner' to space flight, to delivering supplies to the ISS and send up teams to harvest space junk and sent it back to Earth. This can be used to service satellites. It is also technology that has national security implications. Once this vehicle is attached to GPS and a mechanism to maneuver in space the applications are endless.
Mr. Baumgartner has gone from daredevil to pioneer with this application of Earth's physics. I congratulate him, but, he needs to give credit where credit it due if this wasn't his original idea.
October 19, 2012, Friday
Austrian daredevil (click here) Felix Baumgartner's record-shattering jump from the stratosphere has been indeed inspired by Bulgarian Ivan Trifonov, it has been revealed.
Trifonov, a 67-year-old Bulgarian man living in Vienna, recently stated that Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner "stole his project" for a record-shattering jump from the stratosphere.
The Bulgarian said that he met with Baumgartner in Salzburg back in 2005, sharing all details of his project with the Austrian. Baumgartner allegedly told him he would call him back, but never did.
"I let him have the idea on the condition that he had to include me in his team," Trifonov stated, as cited by Vienna Times.
In an interview for Pure Skydive back in 2010, Baumgartner said that he first considered the project when Trifonov contacted him back in 2004:...