High School Students Launch Balloon into Stratosphere, Capture Breathtaking Images of Earth

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High School Students Launch Balloon into Stratosphere, Capture Breathtaking Images of Earth

High School Students Launch Balloon into Stratosphere, Capture Stunning Images of Earth

Members of the astronomy club at Asahigaoka Senior High School in Nagoya, Japan, successfully launched a high-altitude balloon named Kokou No. 1 on October 13th. The balloon soared to an impressive altitude of 28 kilometers, capturing breathtaking images of our blue, round planet.

Club leader Masahiro Yamada expressed his excitement, stating, "We were extremely excited to retrieve the cameras, sensors, and other equipment the balloon had carried." He added, "Watching the video footage, we were struck by how round the Earth really is."

The Space Balloon Project, initiated in October 2022, aimed to make the wonders of the universe more accessible to the public. The club's goal was to capture photographs and video footage from the stratosphere, while also collecting valuable data on temperature, atmospheric pressure, and radiation levels.

The stratosphere, located between 10 and 50 kilometers above Earth's surface, is often referred to as the "edge of space." Club members designed and produced the balloon's payload themselves, raising approximately 800,000 yen ($5,200) through crowdfunding and contributions from six companies.

The orange-colored balloon was launched at 5:32 a.m. from Koijigahama beach in Aichi Prefecture. It reached its peak altitude of 28 kilometers at 6:39 a.m. before bursting. The payload landed in waters off the coast of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, at 6:54 a.m. The students successfully retrieved it by chartering a fishing boat using its GPS coordinates.

Yamada, a second-year student, described the awe-inspiring view captured in the video footage. "We could see the layer of atmosphere over the Earth because the blue color of the sky became deeper as the balloon gained altitude. While the jet-black universe stretched above our eyes, our town lay below. We were able to feel human activity and the strength of life in there."

First-year students in the astronomy club are already planning a second balloon launch with an even more unique mission. Yamada expressed his hope that the project will inspire children to explore new frontiers, stating, "With our own eyes, we were able to see a world that could only be seen in textbooks. We will be happy if our project inspires children to open up new frontiers, such as outer space."

The retrieved equipment, along with nine photos and other materials from the project, are currently on display at Toyohashi Planetarium in Aichi Prefecture until December 28th. Video footage captured by the balloon can be viewed on YouTube.