To reduce the weight of the balloon the team sourced specialist lead foil with a thickness of 0.00016mm. Despite its thinness the lead weighs six times more than regular foil.
The team constructed an origami inspired balloon measuring 1.6m³, by layering sheets of the lead foil on top of each other.The balloon was filled with air to start the unfolding process, which was replaced by Helium to complete the inflation. As the balloon twisted out into its cube shape it ascended reaching a tethered height of 5m.
Owen Gay, executive producer of Icon Films said: "We proved that you can pour tea from a chocolate tea pot but this was a far greater challenge.However thanks to physics, a little bit of origami and a lot of hard work, we can now all celebrate the success by saying it's gone up like a lead balloon."
