Zephyr high-altitude solar powered aircraft gears up for commercial service

Two decades is a long time in technology. When the Zephyr high-altitude platform station (HAPS) first took to the skies over Australia in 2005, it had a flight time endurance of about six hours. Originally developed by QinetiQ, that initial vehicle weighed just 17kg, had a wingspan of 12m and operated at a ceiling of around 9,000m. Today’s Zephyr, now under the stewardship of Airbus spinout AALTO HAPS, can remain on station in the stratosphere at 20,000m for up to 90 days, opening up massive opportunities for communications and Earth observation. 

“This is a technological masterpiece,” Samer Halawi, AALTO HAPS CEO, told The Engineer. “The idea is old, but the technology capabilities have evolved such that this idea now is doable.”

Advances in lightweighting materials and solar cells have helped Zephyr evolve from the original prototype to the current 25m wingspan craft, which weighs 65kg and can carry a 5kg payload. However, the biggest catalyst for progress has been the increased density of batteries, particularly over the past decade as the EV boom has driven the technology forward.