Rubber chicken flies into Solar storm

[Whitters]

Rubber Chicken Flies into Solar Radiation Storm

April 19, 2012:  Last month, when the sun unleashed the most intense radiation storm since 2003, peppering satellites with charged particles and igniting strong auroras around both poles, a group of high school students in Bishop, California, knew just what to do.

They launched a rubber chicken.

The students inflated a helium balloon and used it to send the fowl, named "Camilla," to an altitude of 120,000 ft where she was exposed to high-energy solar protons at point blank range.

More: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/19apr_camilla/