Gemini - the tale of two balloons.

In 2015/16, students at the University of Birmingham had the opportunity to hitch a ride to the edge of space! Not for themselves unfortunately, but for payloads of their own design and construction.

The Gemini project launched two helium filled weather balloons in March 2015 and April 2016. They carried with them multiple kilograms of student payloads high into the stratosphere. The experiments flown ranged from a geiger-muller tube radiation sensor to a heated and pressurised capsule capable of protecting a plant from the harsh conditions in the Stratosphere.
 

Previous flights provided flight tested tracking equipment and produced many photos, which can be seen alongside the pictures taken on the Gemini flights, on our Facebook and Flickr pages.

Join our facebook group and watch out for any further news! We hope future students will learn from the wealth of data and experience we gained to perform further flights in future!

This opportunity was provided by generous contribution from the Centre for Learning and Development and the Alumni Impact fund. The campaign itself was organised by a team of PhD and Undergraduate students, led by PhD student Graham Kirkby MSci AMInstP working with the Space Environement and Radio Engineering (SERENE) research group.