A British-led team of engineers has taken a leap forward in the race to harness the stratosphere for earth observation and communications, completing a new series of test flights of BAE Systems’ High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS), PHASA-35, in quick succession.
During the first flight at Spaceport America in New Mexico, US, in recent weeks, the solar powered aircraft flew for 24 hours climbing to more than 66,000 feet and cruising in the stratosphere, before successfully landing in a serviceable condition, meaning it was ready to fly again just two days later.
This is a major milestone in the development of PHASA-35, named after its 35 meter wingspan, demonstrating its ability to be launched, flown, landed, potentially reconfigured and then relaunched again so quickly.
Designed by BAE Systems’ subsidiary Prismatic Ltd to operate above the weather and conventional air traffic, PHASA-35, has the potential to provide a persistent and stable platform for uses including ultra-long endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
The latest trials also saw the aircraft carry an active intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor, known as a software defined radio, developed by BAE Systems’ Digital Intelligence business. This weighed more than twice as much as the previous payload it had flown to the stratosphere with.
At Prismatic’s site in Alton, Hampshire, UK the PHASA-35 team has now built the next iteration of PHASA-35. The new model has more than twice the onboard solar power generation and storage capacity than the current version. These modifications are expected to allow it to demonstrate stratospheric missions of increasing duration and complexity from next year onwards.