
The AALTO Zephyr HAPS has completed initial testing out of the Kenya ‘AALTOPORT', it was announced on 3 February. (AALTO)
Airbus Defence and Space subsidiary company AALTO has completed initial flight trails of the Zephyr high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS) out of its newly established ‘AALTOPORT' in Kenya.
The Farnborough-based company announced the milestone on 3 February, days after online flight tracker services recorded the maiden flight out of the Zephyr's first planned future operating location on 19 January.
“AALTO HAPS Ltd, an Airbus subsidiary which designs, manufactures, and operates the Zephyr HAPS, has completed its first successful stratospheric flight and testing from its purpose-built HAPS facility (AALTOPORT) in Laikipia County, Kenya,” the company said. “Flying for more than 13 days above 60,000 ft in Kenya, [the] Zephyr was equipped with a payload developed at AALTO's Farnborough headquarters that can provide direct-to-device (D2D) 4/5G connectivity. Compatible with smartphone technology to enable video and data services, AALTO conducted tests to characterise the performance of the connectivity system. During the flight, AALTO also validated improvements to Zephyr's flight envelope to provide greater stability and performance.”
As noted in the announcement, this initial Kenya-based trials campaign saw a number of firsts for the Zephyr HAPS including the longest unrefuelled flight of any aircraft type over Africa and the highest flight of any aircraft type over the continent. Programmatically, it saw the launch of Zephyr operations from the new Laikipia County AALTOPORT near Mount Kenya, the successful testing of the D2D payload developed in-house by AALTO, and a key use case of HAPS, as well as the first launch of the Zephyr via the ELVIS launcher vehicle.
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