article_snippet: A balloon carrying sensors designed to detect the faint traces left by alien life on other planets has been sent on a mission high into the Earth's atmosphere.
article_snippet: Sensor spent more than an hour at 105,000 feet above the Earth's surface taking measurements before parachuting safely back to the ground.
article_snippet: A balloon carrying sensors designed to detect the faint traces left by alien life on other planets above carried the new highly sensitive instrument 19.8 miles into the atmosphere .
article_snippet: Sensor is launched into the air beneath a high-altitude balloon from Tucson, Arizona .
article_snippet: Professor Peale and his team launched Professor Peale and his team sensor, which uses an infrared laser the size of a grain of salt, on a high altitude balloon from Tucson, ArizonaArizona, on Sunday.
article_snippet: The test on the balloon was designed to show that the PAMSS could function in the extreme cold and low pressures of near space.
article_snippet: In the stratosphere temperatures fall as low as -75°F (-59°C).
article_snippet: The balloon reached 105,000 ft for over one hour, achieving objectives.'The instrument parachuted safely back to Earth
highlights_snippet: Toaster-sized instrument flew 19.8 miles above Earth's surface in first test .
  
highlights_snippet: Toaster-sized instrument spent an hour at 105,000 feet collecting data before parachuting to Earth .
  