Britain’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency has committed $94 million over three and a half years to 18 projects developing high-altitude pseudo-satellites that could deliver wireless connectivity without the orbital infrastructure of Starlink. The program, called Enduring Atmospheric Platforms, targets a 300-watt communications payload capable of holding station for a week at altitudes where terrestrial networks do not reach.
The program structure
ARIA has divided the work into three technical areas: underlying technology development, system integration and testing, and eventual deployment. The agency frames the effort as a bid to make the UK the place where the high-altitude platform industry is designed, built and scaled, rather than simply a customer for foreign constellations.
Competing designs for UK coverage
Two startups have proposed full-UK constellations. Menapia’s Carousel concept would hover at up to 12 miles. VFP Aerospace’s Enduring Drone Networks would operate a relay that automatically returns to a ground station for charging and servicing, at an estimated $67,000 per drone.
Wireless power from the ground up
Powering aircraft that stay aloft for days has drawn three distinct approaches. Scalable Laser Ltd pairs ground-based high-power laser diodes with airborne photovoltaic receivers. Space Solar Engineering Ltd proposes microwave transmission. The University of Bath is exploring atmospheric gravity waves, using the upward movement of air from weather fronts and terrain, and gravity’s pull back down, to extend range and endurance without added fuel.
Spinning wings and fixed-wing solar
Program director Rico Chandra said the portfolio backs “fixed-wing solar aircraft to designs nobody predicted, including aircraft that fly on spinning wings instead of propellers.” The first units are meant to prove a week of station-keeping; commercial viability will depend on whether any of the 18 experiments can turn a week into months.