5G From the Sky: New Internet Infrastructure Takes Flight

A new way to get internet took to the skies recently, and it aims to be a bridge between satellite-based internet like Starlink and terrestrial-based internet from local cell towers.

The large oblong silver balloons are called HAPS, short for High Altitude Platform Systems. HAPS come in many shapes and sizes, including the fixed-wing Airbus Zephyr. Sceye, however, has chosen a balloon-like design to take advantage of helium’s lighter-than-air lift to reach the stratosphere and stay there.

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Sceye’s latest test flight marked the end of the technology’s endurance program, where the HAPS spent over 12 days in the air. The program gathered data about how systems degrade over time. This data will allow the company to make necessary adjustments and prepare for upcoming commercial test flights, which will focus on traveling to specific areas to provide internet to people on the ground.

Sceye’s HAPS aim to compete with satellites as a new layer of infrastructure in the stratosphere, providing not only internet but also environmental monitoring and more.

To see Sceye’s HAPS in flight, check out the video in this article.