HAPS specialist claims record for stratospheric flight

US aerospace company Sceye successfully completed a 12-day, 6,400 mile stratospheric flight using its SE2 High-Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS), travelling from New Mexico to the coast of Brazil. Sceye, which specialises in HAPS for telecoms and real-time environmental monitoring, stated the flight-time represented a record, spending more than 88 hours over areas of operation, before completing a planned and controlled termination. The flight was part of the company’s Endurance Programme, which is aimed at underscoring progress in completing long-duration stratospheric operations, ahead of a pre-commercial telecoms flight later this year. It builds on a 2024 initiative, whereby Sceye demonstrated HAPS’ ability to power through a full day-night cycle while maintaining position over an area of operation. Poised for take-off During the SE2 flight, which launched on 25 March, the company said the craft was able to close the “power loop”, maintaining power, position and altitude during each day and night cycle, using solar power during daylight which charged batteries that operated at night. It was also able to close the “pressure loop”, maintaining vehicle pressure during the same cycle. By completing the Endurance Programme, Sceye said it now has all the data and configuration requirement to advance towards months and eventually years long flights. The company added it is now preparing its first pre-commercial test flight from Japan, with the goal to provide a successful backhaul connection into SoftBank Corp’s core network and run demonstrations for expanded connectivity during emergency and disaster response scenarios. “This is the defining step toward unlocking the stratosphere as a new layer of infrastructure,” said Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, founder and CEO of Sceye. Founded in 2014, Sceye has received investment America Movil and SoftBank Corp. The post HAPS specialist claims record for stratospheric flight appeared first on Mobile World Live .