From Tinkering to the Stratosphere: The Story of SimLE Stardust
Baku, Azerbaijan, is a city where ancient city walls stand beside futuristic flame towers. It’s a place that embodies evolution—a fitting setting for the story I had the honor of telling at the 74th International Astronautical Congress. The paper I presented wasn’t about a single mission, but about the entire journey of our Stardust project: a seven-year evolution from student tinkering to a credible stratospheric research platform.
Our story began at Gdańsk University of Technology in 2016. The first mission was simply to see if we could do it—launch a balloon, collect some data, and get it back. That initial success ignited our ambition to tackle a real scientific challenge: searching for microbial life in the stratosphere.
Our first microbiological missions were a huge learning curve. In 2017, we launched a complex sampling system with six filters, but a technical glitch meant the valves never opened. It was a setback, but a valuable one. We proved our sterilization procedures worked, as the filters remained completely clean. This failure taught us resilience.
We simplified our design for the next launch in May 2018. This time, everything worked. We successfully filtered air in the lower stratosphere and, for the first time, got results. While we couldn’t cultivate any living organisms, metagenomic analysis of the DNA on the filter revealed an abundance of Gram-positive bacteria, including Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, and Bacillus—genera frequently reported by other researchers.
This success gave us the confidence to aim higher. We applied for and were accepted into the REXUS/BEXUS programme, a joint venture of the European, German, and Swedish space agencies. This was a game-changer. Flying on the BEXUS 30 balloon in 2021, we deployed our most advanced system yet, with separate filters for different types of analysis. This mission was a resounding success, yielding culturable, living bacteria from the stratosphere, including what might be undescribed species.
The story doesn’t end there. After the BEXUS programme, we launched Stardust NEXT to transfer our knowledge to a new team of students. They have already launched their own missions, including one in August 2023 with a payload named “Storm” to study the migration of toxins at high altitudes.
Presenting this entire seven-year saga in Baku was a proud moment. It demonstrated how a series of incremental steps, fueled by student passion and guided by mentorship, can lead to meaningful scientific advancements. Our research has always been about more than just microbiology; it’s about building a foundation of knowledge and inspiring the next generation to continue exploring. History is now repeating itself, as the Stardust NEXT team aims to follow in our footsteps and compete for a future BEXUS launch, closing the circle of growth for our programme.