Tweets from Ireland are about to reach the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere – literally.
The #Tweetsinspace campaign on Twitter will highlight current EU funding available to Irish scientists. It will also celebrate Irish scientist Robert Boyle and his impact on the scientific world.
Testing the limits of Boyle’s famous law, #Tweetsinspace will see the launch of a weather balloon from Ireland to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere on 10 September (weather permitting). Attached to it will be a second balloon, with Boyle’s face printed on it, which will be filmed as it expands until it eventually bursts, as Boyle’s Law predicts.
The experiment will also display tweets from the public when it reaches the edge of space, via a screen attached to the balloon – making them the highest tweets ever sent in Ireland. When the balloon bursts a team will then use GPS in an attempt to recover the video footage of the experiment.
Irish science successes
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the thriving success of Irish science, as demonstrated by people like Robert Boyle and, more recently, by Dublin hosting the EuroScience Open Forum this year. The campaign hopes to encourage more Irish scientists to apply for EU funding to help their research, which can in turn lead to further employment in this industry.
#Tweetsinspace is organised by the “Talk to EU” public information initiative funded by the European Commission. The campaign is designed to communicate to young Irish people the benefits of EU funding in science, innovation, and research.
The European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, said: “The European Union needs a million more researchers by 2020 if we want to stay ahead of the game in research and tackle major issues like climate change and food shortages.
“EU funding is supporting many young scientists to further their careers and really make a difference.”
Learn more
Send your tweets to #tweetsinspace on Twitter, and check out the live blog that will chart the research behind the launch and the predicted flight path of the balloon
Read our profile of Robert Boyle on MyScienceCareer.ie
