Inflated with helium that was generously sponsored by the Physics department, DU Spaceflight society’s second high-altitude balloon project, Aether II, was launched from James' Hill on Thursday, 4 November. An enthusiastic team of 15 students witnessed the release of the Helium Latex balloon with great excitement. The giant white sphere was seen to be slowly floating away as a tiny dot and eventually vanishing into the azure sky on the crisp, sunny autumn morning.

The project spanned over a month during which students met up every Monday to discuss and design the payload, electronics, and mechanical components of the Balloon. Similar to its predecessor Aether I, Aether II is equipped with a teddy bear photographer/pilot with an addition of two data-log trackers. The solar iridium satellite tracker relayed the GPS and sensor data back to the team via the iridium satellite constellation. The balloon spent 2hrs 30min in flight and travelled 177 km. It reached the target altitude of 34km before bursting and landing in the peak district; was eventually retrieved by two team members. With the introduction of a stabilisation system, the camera in the payload recorded beautiful high-quality footage of Earth seen from the stratosphere.