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US — Ars Technica

Stratospheric airship flew from US to Japan to test sky cell tower concept

Space1 min read

Sceye, a US aerospace company, flew a helium airship from New Mexico to Japan and back. The goal was to show that a floating airship can work like a cell phone tower in the sky.

An airship makes a round trip

A Sceye airship flew from New Mexico to Japan and back over more than a month, between August and September 2026. The flight was not about distance. It was a test of whether a high-flying airship can act as a cell phone tower. The airship has no crew and stays up for long periods.

Key facts

  • The airship flies in the stratosphere at about 60,000 feet (about 18 km) high.
  • That height is about twice as high as normal air traffic.
  • The airship is about 30 times closer to the ground than low-Earth orbit satellites, according to Sceye's CEO.
  • The airship is filled with helium, a light gas that helps it float.
  • The newest version is 270 feet (83 meters) long. An earlier version was 215 feet (65 meters) long and reached the stratosphere in 2021.

How the airship works

The airship uses an electric propeller to move and to hold its position against most strong winds. Solar panels on top of it collect sunlight during the day. Batteries store that power so the airship can keep flying through the night. In the morning, the sun recharges the batteries, and the airship is still in the same place. Sceye began testing smaller models in 2016.

Why it matters

A cell tower in the sky could bring phone service to places where building ground towers is hard or expensive. Because the airship flies closer to Earth than satellites, phone signals may travel a shorter path. Sceye's CEO said the company has been working toward this kind of platform since the late 1990s, when others first tried similar ideas.

What to watch

  • Whether Sceye turns these test flights into a paid service for phone companies.
  • How long the airships can stay in the air on future flights.
  • Whether other companies build similar high-altitude platforms.

Glossary

Sceye
A US aerospace company near Albuquerque, New Mexico, that builds airships that fly in the stratosphere.

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