The Edge of Space Project
Unlimited possibilities
At the University of Sheffield we like to tell our students they should aim high. Study with us and we'll offer the launchpad for your dreams and aspirations. Whatever area of learning and discovery captures your imagination, we'll help you reach the pinnacle.
Four of our students in the Department of Physics and Astronomy took our advice literally. They aimed high – and they reached the stratosphere. An altitude of about 22 miles, to put a figure on it. They attached cameras and scientific instruments to a helium balloon and recorded a stunning collection of images from the edge of space.
Philip Carpenter, Alexander Mackie, Phillip Mahoney and Lawrence Wilkinson conducted the project, supervised by Professor Vik Dhillon, as part of their coursework for their MPhys Physics and Astrophysics degree. The students built a shell to carry their payload of cameras and equipment in March 2011 and launched the balloon the following month. The flight was delayed for 24 hours while the team secured clearance from the Civil Aviation Authority.
Reaching the stratosphere
On the morning of 8 April the students drove to a car park near the Peak District village of Hathersage, Derbyshire, just outside Sheffield. They released the balloon at 10am. Within a few minutes it was climbing rapidly through the Earth's atmosphere, recording temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity, and shooting photographs and video.
The team used their skills to predict and track the balloon's course through the east midlands. When they sat down to lunch just outside Nottingham, the students were able to see the balloon as it passed above them, having now inflated to a diameter of 10 metres.
All the while the equipment on board continued to take readings for analysis later back at the University. Looking out to the east and south coasts of England, the camera produced a series of spectacular coastal images, capturing the Humber estuary, Flamborough Head on the North Yorkshire coast, the Wash, and the Thames estuary and Isle of Wight.
Return to Earth
Just after 1pm the balloon burst, as the students had predicted, 36 kilometres (22.5 miles) up in the stratosphere. The payload took half an hour to fall back to Earth, its journey smoothed and the equipment protected on impact by a parachute.
When the payload landed, its tracking device sent a text message to the students containing its location. It had fallen to Earth in a field six miles north of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire – not far from where the team had predicted. They raced off back to their car to find it, took the equipment back to the University, and created this dazzling video to show what they'd done.
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When I saw the type of pictures we were going to be taking of the Earth, I was excited to be a part of something special. The best moment came when we finally launched the balloon on 8th April 2011. That was because all the hard work we put in over the previous several months had come to fruition and there was nothing left for us to do but watch and wait. |
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Alex Mackie |
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