{"id":6464,"date":"2026-06-24T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/2026\/06\/24\/this-flying-solar-powered-platform-could-deliver-better-internet-from-the-air\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:00:10","slug":"this-flying-solar-powered-platform-could-deliver-better-internet-from-the-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/2026\/06\/24\/this-flying-solar-powered-platform-could-deliver-better-internet-from-the-air\/","title":{"rendered":"This flying solar-powered platform could deliver better internet from the air"},"content":{"rendered":"

As soon as August, a giant silver bullet will cut its way through the dry air of the southwestern US and cross the Pacific to reach the coast of Japan. <\/p>\n

Once there, the roughly 200-foot-long craft, built by the New Mexico\u2013based company Sceye, will park some 18 kilometers above the ocean\u2019s surface, in a wispy-thin layer known as the stratosphere. Then it will use a custom-built antenna to supplement Softbank\u2019s 5G network, a test that will include beaming data straight to devices. <\/p>\n

Sceye (pronounced \u201csky\u201d) is one of several firms building a class of airborne craft called HAPS, or high-altitude platform stations or systems. Such a platform can be a plane or a balloon or, yes, an oblong craft filled with helium and outfitted with solar panels. HAPS companies, including the Airbus subsidiary Aalto, envision them serving a variety of lofty purposes, such as delivering internet service to disaster sites and observing Earth\u2019s surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"a
Hovering over Roswell, the high-altitude system is sheathed in lightweight, reflective fabric.<\/figcaption>
COURTESY OF SCEYE<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The stratosphere is a good place to be if you want to cover a large area. It\u2019s also much closer to the ground than even the lowest-orbiting satellites, which means sending down a signal takes far less energy. \u201cWhat we ultimately offer is space-like conditions, without the cost of going to space and without the complexity of being in orbit,\u201d says Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, Sceye\u2019s CEO and founder.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also not so easy to stay there. Sceye\u2019s aircraft, Frandsen says, has to be light enough to stay aloft but also strong enough to carry the necessary systems. It must soak up and store enough solar energy during the day to provide around-the-clock power to an electric fan that can maneuver the HAPS back into place when winds knock it out of position\u2014mettle it proved in a 2024 test flight.<\/p>\n

Since then, Sceye has been preparing for its big Japan test. In the flight pictured here from this spring, for example, the craft stayed aloft for 12 days as it flew to the coast of Brazil and spent more than 88 hours \u201cparked\u201d in various locations. Eventually, the company expects its platform could help satellite operators better serve densely populated areas.<\/p>\n

Someday, Frandsen says, spotting a HAPS may be as common as seeing ships at port or trains on the tracks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As soon as August, a giant silver bullet will cut its way through the dry air of the southwestern US and cross the Pacific to reach the coast of Japan.  Once there, the roughly 200-foot-long craft, built by the New Mexico\u2013based company Sceye, will park some 18 kilometers above the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-6464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mit-feed","tag-mit-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}