Student Balloons Capture Earth Images from 35 Kilometres Above Cobar

A group of year 10 students from Newcastle, New South Wales, launched two homemade weather balloons high into the sky above Cobar last week. The students, who go to the Hunter School of Performing Arts, built the balloons as part of a STEM project. Twenty-one students took part in the launch on Wednesday. Their goal was to gather data from high up in Earth's atmosphere, including information about temperature, speed, and location.

The students chose Cobar, a town in outback NSW, on purpose. They wanted to make sure the balloons would not land in the ocean or get stuck in trees. "The reason we came all the way out to Cobar is we want to prevent [the balloons] from landing in the ocean or trees," said student Hart van de Wijgaart. Launching from a flat, open area made the balloons much easier to find and retrieve afterward.

Each balloon was designed to travel 35 kilometres above the Earth. They were made from degradable latex and weighed about 3 kilograms each. Attached to each balloon was a box that held a tracker and equipment to measure things like temperature, speed, location, humidity, and pressure. Some students also added personal items, called trinkets, to the boxes for fun.

Things did not go perfectly for both balloons. One balloon had a string that broke early, and it came down about 40 kilometres north of a town called Tottenham. However, the second balloon was a success. It reached 35 kilometres in altitude and eventually landed 250 kilometres away from the launch site, at a citrus farm near the town of Narromine.

A five-year-old boy named Ezra Roberts helped find the second balloon. Ezra lives on the orange farm where the balloon landed with his mum and dad. "I was riding my bike over to my dad and we found the box," Ezra said. It was an exciting discovery for the young farm resident.

The students worked hard to make the project happen. They raised $15,000 to pay for the trip and all the materials they needed. Student Charlie Buchanan was part of the media team for the project. "I thought the idea of us working as a class to create this one big project sounded awesome," she said.

Teacher Ben Moore organised both launches and said the experience has been very rewarding. In 2024, a balloon was launched from a town called Nyngan and reached 28 kilometres high, which inspired this bigger second project. Space officially begins around 100 kilometres above sea level, so the balloons did not quite reach outer space — but 35 kilometres is still well above where most aeroplanes fly. "We were just really thrilled by the whole experience. We just had to bring it back and bigger," Mr Moore said.