Students film Earth from space, via a balloon

Yorkshire has just entered the space race. Two students from Sheffield University have successfully filmed the Earth from the edge of space for less than the cost of a few weeks rent.

Using homemade equipment Alex Baker and Chris Rose, both PhD students from the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, sent a helium-filled balloon carrying two video cameras and a tracking device into the mid-stratosphere.

The video they recorded shows the blackness of space, the curvature of our planet and cloud formations from above.

Their space capsule was made from a foam box containing camera and GPS tracking device. Duct tape sealed out the harsh conditions of the upper atmosphere. Chemical hand warmers kept their equipment working in the -50 degree centigrade temperatures of near-space. The payload was then equipped with a parachute to return it safely to Earth.

The pair launched their balloon from Ashborne in Derbyshire. After a 2 hour flight it was recovered it from a field in Cambridgeshire, the county in which they had predicted their probe would land.

“Although we tried to plan for as much as we could, we were still very lucky that things worked in our favour on the day,” said Alex Baker. “We were concerned when we didn’t receive a signal from the GPS tracker on the device during the whole flight. Even once it landed we struggled, as putting the coordinates into the Iphone only got us to the nearest road.”

Their mission – to an estimated altitude of 37 km – cost a total of just £350.

“It’s a good opportunity to show that this could be undertaken by anyone, even with a relatively small budget,” said Rose