BAE Systems subsidiary Prismatic has been selected for a UK-funded project to test ground-based power beaming for the PHASA-35 solar-electric stratospheric aircraft. The ARIA-backed programme is designed to help the high-altitude pseudo-satellite stay airborne year-round, including through the long winter nights that limit solar-only operations.
The contract covers a 3.5-year, three-stage effort that ends with an integrated flight demonstration. Under the plan, a controlled energy beam from the ground will feed a receiver built into the aircraft’s wing, convert the energy back into electricity and recharge onboard batteries. That approach is intended to reduce dependence on onboard solar collection alone and extend endurance for persistent communications, surveillance and Earth-observation missions.
PHASA-35 is a lightweight platform with a 35-metre wingspan and a payload capacity of up to 15 kg. The wider ARIA programme targets low-cost, long-endurance atmospheric platforms for high-altitude communications, with technical goals that include delivering continuous power to a stratospheric payload for at least a week. If the demonstration succeeds, it could make solar stratospheric aircraft more practical at UK latitudes, where winter daylight is too short for uninterrupted flight.