Bryant Hornet Engineering is preparing for their second venture into near-space with the launch of Aether II today at 1 p.m., at Bryant Stadium.
The annual near-space experiment launched by Bryant Hornet Engineering is part of Bryant High School’s Aerospace Engineering class. The class is part of our Project Lead the Way – Pathway to Engineering curriculum. (www.pltw.org)
The Aether II capsule is expected to approach or even exceed 100,000 feet on its flight, capturing photos and video of black space, curvature of the planet, and a thin ring of blue atmosphere. Other on-board equipment will allow for real-time tracking throughout the flight as well as the recording of data about near-space (temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, etc.).
The Aether I launch of 2014, while successful, did experience some complications and tech glitches (largely in real-time tracking) that have been addressed in the totally new and redesigned Aether II capsule.
The Aether II capsule also incorporates several brand new features, such as an up-firing GoPro mount (allowing the class to watch the balloon expand/burst against black space and observe the operation of our recovery systems), a back-up tracking system that operates over GSM networks, and additional equipment that should aid in locating the capsule in crops/vegetation of late spring.
Anyone anywhere may track Aether II’s progress by visiting www.aprs.fi and following the callsign KF5OUQ while the balloon is airborne.
Much of the funding for this year’s project was provided through grants through the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium.
“We’re greatly appreciative of their support in giving students such a remarkable opportunity to explore the science of our planet and beyond,” said instructor John Williams. “As always, you can find more on our site http://engineering.bryantschools.org .”
More details on our Aether mini-site – http://engineering.bryantschools.org/aether
Bryant Hornet Engineering also produced a YouTube video about the project here.
