Sceye and SoftBank Corp. have completed the first transpacific stratospheric deployment of ST1, with the platform flying from New Mexico to Japan over more than 15,000 km in 13 days. The mission, conducted at about 16.5 km altitude, carried SceyeCELL and tested mobile broadband connectivity, edge computing, drone communications and emergency communications using SoftBank’s core network.
The aircraft launched from New Mexico on 9 August and reached Japan, where it remained in Japanese airspace for more than a week before the return leg to the United States began. The outbound flight was the company’s first to Asia and its first transpacific mission. SoftBank used the deployment to demonstrate connectivity to standard devices, an application central to future stratospheric communications services.
The operation fits into wider efforts to commercialise high-altitude platform systems as a layer of communications infrastructure above terrestrial networks. Sceye positions its stratospheric aircraft for wide-area coverage and direct-to-device services, with the recent flight providing a longer-range operational test across the Pacific rather than a routine point-to-point demonstration.