Sceye's Solar-Powered Aircraft Revolutionizing Internet Service in Remote Areas
TapTechNews August 22nd news, an aerospace company named Sceye is developing a solar-powered aircraft aiming to provide high-speed Internet service to remote areas. This aircraft is called HAPS (High Altitude Platform Station) and can hover in the stratosphere by utilizing solar energy.
Sceye was founded in 2014 by Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, who is also the owner of the public health company Vestergaard that produces the water purification device LifeStraw.
The Sceye HAPS is a 65-meter long unmanned helium airship, designed to be vertically launched and then ascend to a height of 60,000 to 65,000 feet (TapTechNews note: approximately 18,288 to 19,812 meters). The airship can hover at a given height and GPS coordinates, powered by gallium selenide and gallium arsenide solar cells integrated in its whole-body silver foil solar cloak.
The Sceye HAPS can hover for possibly several months at a time until maintenance is required. During the hovering period, it can perform tasks such as providing broadband Internet to underserved communities, monitoring the climate and environment, and surveilling forest fires or other natural disasters.
The Sceye HAPS has participated in multiple projects, including providing broadband Internet service to the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, USA, and monitoring methane emissions.
The Sceye HAPS first flew in 2021 and reached a maximum height of 64,600 feet (approximately 19,690.08 meters). It also utilized an airborne 4G active antenna array and beamforming technology to maintain an LTE OpenRAN data connection with smartphones on the ground, reaching a record distance of over 140 kilometers, while the typical connection range of LTE is about 100 kilometers.
The aircraft achieved the latest milestone last week, showcasing the ability to charge the batteries with solar energy during the day and then use these batteries to maintain hovering at night. It was launched from Sceye's New Mexico factory at 7:36 am local time on August 15th and reached a height of 61,000 feet (approximately 18,592.8 meters) before landing at 12:21 pm the next day.
While in the air, the aircraft also demonstrated its ability to hover in place in the operating area and the ability to transfer to another area.
The Sceye HAPS has conducted a total of 20 test flights so far and plans to conduct two more test flights later this year. The project plans to begin commercial operation in 2025.