Reg readers in the Leamington Spa area are asked to keep an eye out for a knitted hedgehog which may have fallen from the skies thereabouts, and is currently the focus of a frantic search and rescue operation.

CASSiE (Cosmic Ambassador for Space Science and Engineering), aka the Cosmic Hedgehog, was sent aloft last Friday on a balloon mission, accompanying 70 student scientific projects into the stratosphere.

Unfortunately, mission control lost contact with the payload on its descent, and is now calling on the public for assistance:

The current best estimate of CASSiE's location is north of Banbury/south of Leamington Spa, so keep your eyes peeled. ®