What goes up must come down, but for our school’s science project, the journey in between was the most exciting part! Over the past couple of terms, students from years 6 to 8 embarked on an ambitious venture: launching a weather balloon to the edge of space, tracking its incredible flight, and ultimately, retrieving our precious payload, including our very own mascot, Woodi the Owl, or as he will now be known, the Owlonaut!
The planning stage was undoubtedly the most crucial, and perhaps the most educational. Our team, guided by Nick Mccloud and Mr Watt, meticulously researched everything from high-altitude balloon technology to Civil Aviation Authority regulations. We learned about the properties of different gases, calculating the precise amount of helium needed to reach our target altitude of over 100,000 feet, while also ensuring a safe ascent and descent rate.
Our final payload, carefully constructed to be lightweight yet robust, included a Raspberry Pi computer equipped with sensors to measure such data as temperature and height. A GPS tracker was essential for retrieval, and a small camera was attached to capture breathtaking pictures of Earth from above.
Launch day was a mix of nerves and exhilaration. With a decent weather forecast, albeit somewhat blustery, the whole school assembled outside. After a countdown for launch accompanied by ‘Space Oddity’ by David Bowie on the sound system, our carefully inflated balloon gracefully ascended into the clear blue sky, shrinking rapidly until it was just a tiny speck. The real work then began for our ground crew, as we scrambled onto the minibus, all pupils carefully monitoring the GPS signals and photos that were being downloaded. Constant changes were being made to where it would land, but we knew it was somewhere in the Peak District.
A couple of hours later, the signal indicated our balloon had burst, as planned, and was descending rapidly, at one point above 50 m/s. The chase was on! Pupils back at school were able to track Woodi’s journey on the big screen in the Science department foyer, with Mrs Edwards commenting that they saw the moment that the balloon burst and started its descent. Thanks to our precise GPS trackers, we pinpointed its location, just a mile or so from us. Unbelievably, Woodi had landed in the second largest working quarry in Europe, Tunstead Quarry near Buxton.
As we drove into the entrance, with dozens of large cement trucks coming and going, a security guard approached the window and asked whether he could help. I replied; ‘You are not going to believe this and I guarantee you have not had this before. As part of a Science project at school we have launched a weather balloon from the middle of Shropshire, with a payload attached and our school mascot, to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere, the balloon has burst and descended and landed in your quarry, can we please have our teddy bear back?’ There was a smile and a simple response of ‘I’m not sure’. Thankfully his boss walked past at that time and was hugely accommodating, taking Nick into the quarry in a works 4×4, adorned with hard hat and hi-viz. With the use of one of the quarry’s drones, they found Woodi on top of a pile of large stones and 40 minutes later returned with Woodi, barely with a ruffled feather.
This weather balloon project was more than just a science experiment; it was an unforgettable journey that taught us about physics, meteorology, engineering, data analysis, and the power of collaborative problem-solving. It truly showed us that with careful planning and a little ingenuity, the sky isn’t the limit – it’s just the beginning.
