Students lift the lid on Ballymaloe space oddity

A humble jar of Ballymaloe Country Relish has boldly gone where no relish has gone before — right to the edge of space.

Around the time North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was facing public humiliation after the failure of a long-range rocket launch, four Irish students were already on their way to YouTube stardom after posting footage of their successful space launch from Mallow, north Cork.

They fixed the jar to a rig, attached a GoPro HD video camera, and released it into space under a two-metre helium balloon. The contraption reached an altitude of 96,500 ft — almost 30km — where temperatures of -55C froze the jar’s contents and caused the camera equipment to fail.

This triggered a parachute release, allowing the jar to made a safe landing some 80km away in east Cork.

The 160-minute space flight followed months of planning by Alex Musgrave, Billy Cummings, Eoin Devlin and Irial Kennedy.

“We tracked the progress of the jar to an altitude of 5,400 feet, where we lost contact,” Cork IT student Alex said.

“Two hours later we received our first location two miles off the coast of Youghal.

“This seemed to be the end of the project because a water landing was our worst fear. “But luck sided with us and lower atmospheric winds carried the unit inland, where it touched down in a field.”

The students hope their project, which cost about €700, much of which was contributed by Ballymaloe, will promote their digital media company, Dog Day Media, which specialises in online promotional video and viral videos.

* http://exa.mn/4v