RAT in Space

Rawlings Agency Tips goes Stratospheric

You'll never believe what I did last weekend... I sent a RAT into SPACE! Really!

What started as a science project with my childen became a quest to send a toy RAT into “near space” or stratosphere, reaching about 125,000ft and retrieving it safely. This involved a helium-filled meteorological balloon, an insulated box containing cameras, heater, battery pack and GPS tracker, parachute and radar reflectors. The cameras were programmed to take a picture every 45 seconds and the results have been out of this world!

A friend and I had been planning this for months and we had to obtain Civil Aviation Authority permission on several occasions, but the specific weather requirements were always against us - until Sunday. I had been looking forward to the Fine and Country Polo event but the weather and jetstream reports were perfect and we decided to launch at short notice and are delighted with the results. Believe it or not, the parachute landed just seven miles away from the launch site!

It’s not just the RAT that had to suffer minus 70 degrees for the sake of publicity! To counter his weight, we forced a teddy bear to endure the same extremes in order to promote the Homebuyer Centre, which helps estate agents integrate buyer representation into their business. Sadly he tried to jump overboard as he entered the stratosphere but good old Sellotape held him, upside down, until he landed four hours later, only to be mauled by a dog on landing.

If you'd like to discuss some radical blue sky thinking/consultancy/training or marketing for your agency please do contact me.