AN AMBITIOUS project to reach the outer edges of space will take flight at an Oxford school today.

Pupils at d’Overbroeck’s College in Banbury Road are set to launch a weather balloon to record data about the earth’s atmosphere, which will then be analysed back at the school.

Chemistry teacher Stephen Belding built the latex balloon with help from A-Level pupils, and attached it to a payload containing a camera, GPS tracker and data logger.

The balloon will be inflated with helium and then released, and is expected to rise about 20 miles into the sky at a speed of 15mph.

The onboard camera is programmed to take photos every 30 seconds and a data logger will record temperature, air pressure and humidity every 10 seconds.

The balloon will swell hugely in size, from about 1.8 metres in diameter at ground level, to about 10 metres just before it bursts.

Pupil Joe Wolfensohn, who is 17 and lives in Highworth, near Faringdon, came up with the idea. He said: “It’s really good to see my idea taking shape and actually going to happen.”

Mr Belding said: “It should be amazing, we should be able to see the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space.”

It is expected the balloon will take an hour and a half to reach its maximum altitude, then an hour to descend, with a black parachute included in the package to slow its descent.

While there is no guarantee where the balloon will land, Mr Belding said winds above and below the clouds should even out, and they hope it will land within 10km of the launch site.

They will be relying on the GPS tracker to find it and Mr Belding will be on standby to either cycle or take the train and cycle to collect the precious payload.

Data is not transmitted during the flight – the team will only be able to access the information once they find the package.

Alongside the technical equipment is a green Lego alien figure belonging to d’Overbroeck’s head of chemistry Max Parsonage’s grandson, Oskar Buck.

Mr Parsonage said: “The idea is that when it comes down and he gets it back, he will have a Lego figure that has gone to space.”

Maddie Davis, 17, from North Oxford, who is taking part in the launch, said: “I’m going to use the photos as my desktop background.”

The team informed Thames Valley Police and the Civil Aviation Authority about the experiment, which cost £300.