A MARSBalloon workshop in 2023Thales Alenia Space, a joint-venture between Thales (67%) and
Leonardo (33%), has launched MARSBalloon 2024 to harness students’ curiosity for space, science and life on Mars. Led by Thales Alenia Space graduates and apprentices in the UK, MARSBalloon is a hands-on science project for primary and secondary students and shows how exciting and varied career opportunities in space, engineering and science can be — without putting on a space suit.
Students work together to create experiments to test the response of electronics, materials, plants and even food in the harsh conditions of outer space. Experiments fit inside a small capsule and fly on a high altitude balloon, rising to an altitude of 30km, more than twice the height of commercial airliners where conditions are very similar to the surface of Mars — including temperatures of -50°C and pressures 1/100th that of sea level.
This year’s MARSBalloon will also have a competitive element, with prizes awarded for primary and secondary categories for best innovation, best decoration, engineers choice and VIP judges’ choice. The deadline for registration is 8 March 2024 with the balloon due to launch in May or June depending on weather conditions — experiment delivery deadline is 30 April. Ballymacash Primary School in Northern Ireland has already signed up. Teacher Susan Brown said: “We are so excited to be involved in such an amazing activity. The students cannot wait to start dreaming up their own experiments.”
Drashti Shah, Thales Alenia Space engineer and MARSBalloon project manager, added: “We are delighted to have launched MARSBalloon 2024. We had a record number of participants last year, flying over 200 experiments into the stratosphere, and this year we have changed the dates to allow even more schools to get involved. It is fantastic, fun and free-of-charge to participate, and it really gives young students experience of designing their own experiments as well as learning more about space, and widening their future career possibilities.”