This flying solar-powered platform could deliver better internet from the air

Sceye, a New Mexico-based company, is preparing to test a solar-powered, high-altitude platform station (HAPS) that will fly from the southwestern US to Japan as soon as August. This approximately 200-foot-long craft will position itself about 18 kilometers above the Pacific Ocean's surface in the stratosphere. There, it will utilize a custom-built antenna to supplement Softbank's 5G network, including a test of beaming data directly to devices. Sceye's HAPS is designed to offer internet service to remote areas, such as disaster sites, and to conduct Earth observation, leveraging the stratosphere's advantage of covering large areas with less energy expenditure compared to satellites. The company's CEO and founder, Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, highlighted that the platform provides "space-like conditions, without the cost of going to space and without the complexity of being in orbit." The craft's design prioritizes being lightweight for buoyancy while robust enough to carry essential systems. It must efficiently capture and store solar energy for continuous power, enabling an electric fan to maneuver the HAPS against wind displacement, a capability demonstrated in a 2024 test flight. Sceye has since been preparing for this significant Japan test, with a spring flight pictured showing the craft in operation.