Sceye high-altitude airship flies from US to Japan through stratosphere

US firm Sceye, which develops High-Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS) for communications and surveillance, announced on September 2, 2026, that it has completed its first ever transpacific deployment of its ST1, an airship-like long endurance air vehicle. 

The mission, which was conducted in collaboration with Japanese telecommunications and technology giant Softbank Corp, which has been an investor in Sceye since 2025, involved a 13 day-long nonstop flight through the stratosphere between New Mexico and Japan. 

ST1 departed Sceye’s US base on August 9, 2026, for its 15,000 km (8,100 nm) journey to Japan, where it remained airborne for a further seven days of operational trials. After the successful completion of those tests, ST1 started its return journey to the United States, which, as of September 2, 2026, was still underway. 

During the mission ST! typically stayed at an altitude of 16.5 km (54,000 ft) performing a variety of tests which involved relaying regular and emergency telecommunications (including text messaging, voice calls, internet access and emergency calls) as well as interacting with drones. 

For this mission, ST1 was equipped with special telecommunications equipment called SceyeCELL, which has functions similar to those of the cell towers used on the ground by cellphone operators. This technology, which Sceye claims is the first-of-its-kind, makes it possible to deliver wireless communications over wide areas. 

The flight was also the first time a mobile core network and a web server were successfully installed and tested on a HAPS vehicle, with data being processed entirely onboard and relayed back to smartphones on the ground. 

According to Sceye, HAPS-based technology can complement both terrestrial telecommunications networks and satellites.  

A single HAPS is reportedly able to do the work of 500 terrestrial cell towers while operating 1,800 times closer to the Earth’s surface than a geostationary satellite. By operating in the stratosphere, HAPS can offer wide-area mobile coverage, but with a much lower latency and cost than a satellite. 

This was not the first overseas foray for Sceye. In April 2026, a HAPS completed another 12-day, 6,400-mile (10,000 km) long-endurance mission, which took the aircraft from New Mexico to the coast of Brazil. During this mission it completed 88 hours of operational tests, both in New Mexico and keeping station for long periods of time at designated spots off the coast of Brazil. The post Sceye high-altitude airship flies from US to Japan through stratosphere appeared first on AeroTime.

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