Bengaluru students to launch balloon satellite in January

BENGALURU: From finding out how a toothpaste behaves in space to gathering pollution data 100 km from the sea level, students of a city school are set for some eye-opening experiments by sending a high-altitude balloon satellite into low-Earth orbit.

Scientific payloads include a camera, radiation sensor, GPS module, a plant and toothpaste will be on the high-altitude balloon. The equipment will collect data on pollution and radiation through sensors and cameras, and also conduct a biological experiment. Seventy students from Class 3 to 7 are involved in creating payloads for what the school hopes to launch into the stratosphere in January. The project started in August.

 The payload which is almost ready, will be launched at an altitude of 100 km above the sea level from Hosakote between 2 am and 4 am after getting clearance from the air traffic control, Shashank Mane, Facilitator at the Centre of Excellence, Chaman Bhartiya School, told TNIE. The test launch is already completed. He said, “Space Education and robotics are a compulsory component of their curriculum.”

The school has teamed up with a Bengaluru-based edu-space startup, Genex Space, he added. The data from the payloads that will be dropped from the orbit, will then be analysed after producing the payload which is expected to call within a radius of 60-70 km.

As for the payloads, Sushant said radiation sensors will be implemented, a camera sent on the balloon will collect radiations emitted in the area, a camera will be sent to capture how Earth looks from space, he said, toothpaste will be sent to space too to check if it retains semi-solid state. "