A group of students from the 探花直播 of Cambridge who plan on launching a rocket into space for less than 拢1,000 have taken the first steps towards achieving their ambitious goal.

Carl Morland, Henry Hallam and Robert Fryers, all from the Department of Engineering have successfully sent a bundle of equipment to the edge of space using a helium balloon.

探花直播tiny payload, no bigger than a lunchbox, flew to nearly four times the height of Everest before descending by parachute, taking photographs throughout the flight, including dramatic images showing the curvature of the earth.

In the long term, their project - dubbed 'Project Nova' - aims to pave the way for the launch of small payloads for commercial research organisations into space. 探花直播method would be very cheap, costing a matter of several hundred pounds, instead of the six-figure sums currently required.

鈥淭his marks the first step in a series of flights to prove our tracking and telemetry systems work,鈥 Carl said. 鈥淥nce we can take a larger payload stably up to 30km, we will be in a position to launch a rocket from the balloon that will reach the 100 kilometre boundary of space for a tiny fraction of the present cost.

鈥淏y using a balloon to go as high as possible, a considerably smaller rocket can be used as there is much less drag due to the thinner air.鈥

探花直播balloon carried a camera, data transmission system and two tracking systems, as well as a parachute and rose at a steady rate of about 11mph from the launch site at Churchill College. 探花直播flight lasted about three hours, producing more than 800 images in total.

As the balloon rose it expanded. Exactly two hours after lift-off, at an altitude of 32.2km, or 106,500ft above sea level, it burst, releasing the payload which was brought back to earth by parachute.

探花直播descent was initially rapid in the thin air, reaching a peak descent rate of 100mph. Once the parachute had fully opened, the balloon landed safely at 12mph. 探花直播team was able to track the payload鈥檚 position to within ten metres throughout the journey.

Project Nova is part of Cambridge 探花直播 Spaceflight, a student-run organisation dedicated to space flight development and has been funded by the Cambridge-MIT Institute.

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