The objectives of this schools project and the benefits to your class or club by participating are twofold:
A high altitude balloon fully inflated and ready to launch
The MARSBalloon project is a Thales UK funded venture, run by young space engineers from Thales Alenia Space UK, that will test student ideas for technologies that could one day be destined for Mars.
The aim is to test anything that humans or robots will be doing on Mars in the future.
In 2015 we plan to launch 100 experiment capsules on high altitude balloons 30km up into the Earth’s atmosphere, a place where conditions of gas pressure, temperature and radiation are very similar to the surface of Mars.
This project is open to any school in the UK. There is no cost to take part in the project other than that of experiment materials and postage.
Early March 2015: Announcement of mid-June launch opportunity. Information packs sent out to registered teachers. [Applications for 2015 are now closed, you can now register for 2016]
12th June 2015: Deadline for delivery of experiments for the June flight.
Mid-late June 2015: Launch, recovery and return of the 100 experiments.
[Please note launch times are weather dependent]
View of experiments at 30km altitude
By registering your class or club to take part in MARSBalloon you will be reserving at least one experiment for a future flight. See the FAQ for more details on registration.
Please read the information pack which contains everything you need to know to get your students to make Mars experiments that can fly on our balloons, including:
Using the information pack your students can work to together to create Mars experiments, that fit inside a Kinder Egg capsule™, which you post to us so we can include them in the launch. Previous examples of experiments include testing the effect of Martian conditions on rubber bands, ink, memory sticks and 3D printed materials.
During the launch the balloon will ascend to 30km in approximately one hour where it will burst and the experiment tray will return to Earth via parachute. We will then collect the experiments and return them to your school for your students to analyse the results.
Pictures and video of your experiments in flight will be made available soon after landing.
Watch the video below of our latest flight, Elysium, to see what you can expect from participating!
Register now to reserve a space for your class on the next flight!
I enjoyed the MarsBalloon project, as it hooked me into space. It helped me to think how life will be in space and I crave to be an astronaut! I enjoyed thinking how the experiments would react in space and make my own predictions.
The project was a wonderful experience for me as it helped me in science to start thinking more about scientists and what they do. We have questions, especially me, and I would like to find the answers and I got encouraged to find out more. I would love to be an astronaut in future! We also got our answer on the sim card, knowing it will definitely work for scientists in space. In that way, we helped them!