  Indian Centre for Space Physics is engaged in pioneering balloon borne
experiments with typical payloads less than ~ 3.5kg. Low cost rubber balloons
are used to fly them to a height of about 40km. In a double balloon system, the
booster balloon lifts the orbiter balloon to its cruising altitude where data
is taken for a longer period of time. In this Paper, we present our first
scientific report on the variation of Cosmic Rays and muons with altitude and
detection of several solar flares in X-rays between 20keV and 100keV. We found
the altitude of the Pfotzer maximum at Tropic of Cancer for cosmic rays and
muons and catch several solar flares in hard X-rays. We find that the hard
X-ray (> 40keV) sky becomes very transparent above Pfotzer maximum. We find the
flare spectrum to have a power-law distribution. From these studies, we infer
that valuable scientific research could be carried out in near space using low
cost balloon borne experiments. Published in Online version of Indian Journal
of Physics.
