In June, Harrodian's STEM club built and launched a balloon and monitored its flight at a height of 32000 metres over Cambridgeshire. You can watch the take-off and see the dramatic pictures it shot of East Anglia and the North Sea here.
Harrodian STEM club's latest exploration of the possibilities of unmanned space flight took them to Wandlebury Park in Cambridgeshire where they assembled a capsule to house the flight computer they had built under the guidance of STEM club supremo, Mr Jake Murray and launched it into the upper atmosphere suspended beneath a 'weather' balloon.
The balloon ascended to a height of 32,000 metres, gathering data on pressure, temperature and radiation. The on-board cameras snapped striking photographs of scattered clouds marking the boundaries of East Anglia, the clear blue of the North Sea and in the distance, the coast of continental Europe (below). As it flew, STEM club members Anais, Vlad, Vera, Alyosha and Maxim (above) tracked the craft, using GPS as it descended gently to make a parachute landing in a meadow, 20 miles to the South East.
The on-board cameras snapped striking photographs of scattered clouds marking the boundaries of East Anglia, the clear blue of the North Sea beyond and, in the distance, the coast of continental Europe
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The five strong student team, who range in age from 13 -17, pronounced themselves thrilled by their first balloon trip. 'It was a bit of an Apollo 13 experience in the sense that everything went wrong and we had to find solutions on the hoof,' says Anais. 'The computer electrics shorted out so we had to stick it all together with tape which wasn't pretty but it worked. We were able to gather all the data when it landed (below).'
Vera was equally thrilled: 'It was so cool to see the GoPro film footage shot from the balloon which shows the curvature of the Earth, the coast of France and the fields as the balloon comes into land... It was amazing fun.'
The truth about a project like this is that everything that can go wrong almost certainly will...the most valuable experience students gained was in practical problem solving.
Mr Jake Murray, Head of STEM Club
According to Mr Murray, launching a balloon provides valuable learning experience as well as the thrill of a chase across Cambridgeshire. 'The students assembled the computer themselves which gives them hands-on experience of both coding and electrical engineering,' he says. 'But the most valuable experience students gained was in practical problem solving. The truth about a project like this is that everything that can go wrong almost certainly will. So if you're going to pull it off you have to be able to deal with the unexpected and to find practical solutions by thinking on your feet.'