A Mathematician's Apogee

Last summer, with the help of an IMA Small Grant, Paul Shepherd spent 10 days in the Nevada Desert as part of a team of UK researchers searching for signs of life in the stratosphere. Working alongside astrobiologists from NASA, and with a group of rocket enthusiasts, the team built a self-contained testing laboratory and launched it into the stratosphere. This paper describes the highs and lows of the expedition, discussing the various aspects of mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, telecommunications, computing and rocketry encountered along the way. It also goes a long way towards proving that what goes up … must indeed come down ... somewhere ... and quite possibly with a bang!