As low-orbiting broadband constellations become an increasingly dominant force in the satellite industry, stratospheric high-altitude platform stations (HAPS) are closing in on commercializing connectivity from altitudes much closer to Earth.
After being spun out of European aerospace giant Airbus last year, Aalto plans to set up its first permanent base for stratospheric aircraft in Kenya, promising to return the country to the forefront of HAPS commercialization after losing Google’s Loon balloon-based venture three years ago.
Kenya is where Loon first provided commercial connectivity in 2020 with dozens of balloons equipped with payloads mimicking cell towers, only for the plans to burst a year later because it couldn’t create a long-term, sustainable business.
HAPS are often described as pseudo satellites because they also seek to provide connectivity and remote sensing services from up high — around 20 kilometers, below space and above regulated airspace and, critically, still above the weather.
Loon’s early success underlines the demand for connectivity from the stratosphere that can be deployed over persistent coverage gaps or quickly to restore communications following a natural disaster, Aalto CEO Samer Halawi said, but their approach failed to align capability with economics.
Halawi joined Aalto in July 2022 after a long history in the commercial space industry, including chief commercial officer roles at LEO constellation provider OneWeb and geostationary fleet operator Intelsat, and as head of UAE-based regional satellite operator Thuraya.
He puts HAPS in development into two camps: those lighter than air like Loon and heavier platforms such as Aalto’s Zephyr, a fixed-winged drone stretching 25 meters across that is more than two decades in the making.
Loon’s balloons were not as stationary as the Zephyrs Aalto envisions, and Halawi says the venture’s business case fell apart because multiple…
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