The UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) has awarded a £15.7 million ($21.2 million) contract to Prismatic, a BAE Systems subsidiary, to test whether a ground-based energy beam can keep a solar-powered stratospheric aircraft flying around the clock—including through dark northern hemisphere winters. Announced on September 15, the contract calls for Prismatic to use its PHASA-35 uncrewed aircraft as the flight demonstrator.
Solar-powered high-altitude pseudosatellites such as PHASA-35 recharge their batteries during daylight to stay aloft overnight—a limitation at higher latitudes during winter, when days are short. Prismatic contends that beaming power to the aircraft from the ground would eliminate that constraint, enabling continuous flight for months at a time.
Working with British firms Space Solar and MuWave, Prismatic plans to direct a controlled energy beam from a ground station to a receiver built into the PHASA-35’s wing, which would convert it back to electricity to power the airplane and charge its batteries. A company press release described the approach as using microwave frequencies already common in aviation, satellite communications, and radar.
The three-stage program runs 3.5 years and is funded through ARIA’s Enduring Atmospheric Platforms effort, which backs long-endurance platforms for high-altitude communications. It concludes with an integrated flight demonstration.
“PHASA-35 has already proven its worth in the stratosphere as a low-cost alternative to satellites, and now this exciting project will explore whether we can make it even more capable,” Prismatic CEO Bob Davidson said.
The aircraft has a wingspan of 35 meters (115 feet), weighs 150 kilograms (330 pounds), and first reached the stratosphere in 2023, climbing above 66,000 feet. Beyond enabling year-round flight, the power beaming system could shrink the aircraft’s onboard battery arrays, freeing up payload capacity. PHASA-35 can carry up to 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of sensors for surveillance, communications, and Earth observation.
In this article
More In Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
