TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Aalto is turning to Australia as a key operating base to bolster the business case for initial commercial services of its stratospheric pseudo-satellite over Japan, now pushed to 2027 amid regulatory hurdles and ongoing system-integration work.<\/p>\n
The proposed launch and landing site would shave about 10 days off the 14- to 15-day transit from its Kenya base to Japan for the Airbus-owned venture\u2019s Zephyr drone, according to Aalto CEO Hughes Boulnois.<\/p>\n
The shorter route would free up more time for communications and Earth observation services over Asia Pacific, Boulnois said in a Feb. 16 interview, adding that its fixed-wing high-altitude platform station (HAPS) currently has an endurance of roughly 90 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can add an additional 10 days to the customer for a mission,\u201d he said, \u201cand also I can be much closer to countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, which are quite interested in the capability as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
HAPS versus satellite direct-to-device<\/p>\n
Aalto raised $100 million in 2024 from Japanese companies led by mobile operator NTT Docomo<\/a>, which has partnered with the HAPS venture to explore ways to extend 4G and 5G coverage in Japan, as well as restore communications after natural disasters wipe out terrestrial networks.<\/p>\n Such disaster-response connectivity has traditionally relied on satellites, where nascent direct-to-device (D2D) services from low Earth orbit promise to greatly improve coverage and accessibility.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom my perspective, the type of service we will be delivering from 20 kilometers altitude \u2026 will always be of a better quality and better throughput than what you can do from 1,000 kilometers altitude in orbit,\u201d Boulnois said.<\/p>\n While SpaceX seeks to expand beyond the basic D2D data services it has begun offering commercially in Japan and elsewhere, Boulnois said operating closer to Earth enables stronger signals and lower latency, making HAPS better suited to higher-bandwidth applications such as video that are increasingly critical for emergency services.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been witnessing the evolution of the emergency services from \u2026 voice-only to voice and data,\u201d he said, \u201cand now data-driven.\u201d<\/p>\n Zephyr is also being positioned for high-resolution Earth observation, alongside connectivity, as part of broader hybrid architectures integrating stratospheric, terrestrial and space-based systems.<\/p>\n