Henry Smith MP urges Crawley schools to take part in Mars balloon science project

Global space company Thales Alenia Space’s MARSBalloon project gives young people practical experience of designing and testing items to go into space that could one day be heading for Mars.

Henry said: “The Thales Alenia Space MARSBalloon project encourages pupils to gain practical experience of designing and testing experiments into space, and offers a unique opportunity to find out about the conditions on Mars.

“I’m encouraging local schools to take part in Crawley-based Thales UK’s MARSBalloon project.”

The Thales Alenia Space MARSBalloon team will launch a high-altitude balloon to an altitude of 30km, more than twice the height of commercial airliners, where they will be above 99 per cent of Earth’s atmosphere.

Students can work together to create Mars experiments that fit inside a small egg-shaped capsule, which they will be able to post to Thales Alenia Space for inclusion in the launch. Along the way they will experience conditions very similar to the surface of Mars including temperatures of -50°C, pressures 1/100th that of sea level and an increased radiation dose.

This will allow young people to test the response of electronics, materials, plants and even food to the conditions outside of a future Mars base, to help future explorers prepare for this environment.

After the balloon’s flight, the MARSBalloon team will track the landing and recover the experiments, allowing them to be returned to the students for analysis. Pictures and video of the flight are also made available so entrants can watch and see what happens to their experiments during the flight.

It is open to secondary and primary age pupils all across the UK and there is no cost to take part in the project other than that of experiment materials and postage.

This year’s MARSBalloon project will also have a competitive element, with prizes being awarded for Best Innovation, Best Decoration, Engineers Choice and VIP Judge’s Choice.

The deadline for registration is March 31, with the launch of the balloon in early June.