The Flying Adventure of a bear from UNNC

The article comes from WeChat Official Account: FoSE_UNNC
Author: Sophia Han, Zimeng Wang

Congratulations on the success of the Shenzhou XVII manned spaceship launch! As a FoSE bear, I am not one to be left behind. With the help of my friends Zhenghan Li and Zechen Wang from Mechanical Engineering at the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FoSE), University of Nottingham Ningbo, the bear balloon also successfully soared to an altitude of 28,000 meters, setting a new record in my bear life! Now, I want to share my flying adventure with all of you. 

The story begins at the summer of 2023. My friend Zhenghan received me as a gift from the Faculty’s social media engagement and later I also met Zechen. One day, I was weighed, measured, and even heard they were gonna help me lose weight. They were acting mysteriously every day, and I had no idea what these two were up to. 

During these two months, they were busy drawing sketches on the computer, fiddling with wiring devices, and 3D printing models. These moves left me increasingly puzzled. I accompanied them in their busyness, almost living in the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory and computer room.

Apart from being immersed in the lab, we also made several trips to the municipal government and administrative service centre, while making calls to the Meteorological Bureau and Public Security Bureau. 

After the National Day holiday, we finally stepped out of the lab, and back to the hustle and bustle of life, heading to Ningbo Airport. The plane crossed mountains, rivers and seas all the way and finally landed at Shenyang International Airport. Now I can be regarded as a bear who has seen the world.  

The next day, thankfully it was brilliant weather with a bright sky. Early in the morning, we arrived at the boundless fields, crops and paddies everywhere.  

Just when I wondered if they were camping for a barbecue, they started inflating a giant balloon. And then I was hung on it, with a machine box above my head, carrying the hope of all, took off! 

Flying higher and higher, those wilderness and high-rise buildings my eyes could not ordinarily reach were becoming smaller like building blocks. Now I can rightly say that the world is at my feet! I saw planes, birds, and a sea of clouds rolling in the wind. With the rise of the altitude, the temperature gradually decreased, and the oxygen thinned out, until all I could see was the earth glowing with a dreamy azure halo.  

At this moment, the balloon exploded, and I fell down in countless 360-degree free turns in the air, which I could say was gold medal level in the Asian Games. With the gravity of the earth, I returned to Mother Earth, completed a graceful curtain call of this flight journey, then plunged inelegantly into the wheat field.  

Fortunately, my good boys are quite reliable, and everything was within their control. After looking up the GPS, they drove over 200 kilometres to pick me up and bring me back to UNNC.  

The FoSE bear’s flying adventures have come to an end. You must have a lot of questions to ask. Fortunately, we had the opportunity to interview Zhenhan Li, and his teammate Zechen Wang, two final-year students of Mechanical Engineering at FoSE. 

Q1: According to the video, the bear flew to a position where the appearance of the Earth can be seen, what was the height at the tallest point?  

Zhenhan: According to the volume of the helium and the total weight, I calculated that the altitude reached almost 28 kilometres.

Q2: How long did the bear fly, from release to landing?  

Zhenhan: It took a total of 2 hours from release to landing. The climb time was 1.5 hours, and the landing time was about 26 minutes.  

Q3: Is there anything else you would like to say?  

Zhenhan: I am very grateful to the University for creating such an open, inclusive, and diverse environment so that we can release our imagination and develop our potential. As an undergraduate, in the past few years, whenever I need to, I can utilise the laboratory space and equipment to implement my ideas.  

Meanwhile, we really appreciate our technicians. They really helped us a lot, and they helped to debug the equipment during the National Day Holiday. The teacher in charge of laboratory safety has been repeatedly advising and supervising all aspects of our work to ensure our safety. In our daily study and life, the student support advisor and the professional services staff at the faculty office also care for us very much. 

Finally, I would like to thank my other two teammates in the Northeast, Zhenkun Tan and Jingqi Tang. Thanks for their assistance and spiritual support for me. And Jingqi’s car exploded with two tires. They are not our UNNC students, but they both said that they were honoured to participate in this project, and the success of the project was very rewarding.

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