In recent years HAPS (High Altitude Platform Stations) have garnered increasing interest in commercial and defense applications. They hold great promise for many applications, especially continuous and far-reaching communication transmission, however there is still some ways to go before HAPS will be able to accomplish the highly ambitious objectives expected of them. Obstacles to these goals include navigating an extremely tight “energy budget” to stay in the stratosphere, providing enough onboard power for payload devices, and avoiding damage to their delicate structures, especially during takeoff and landing.
Sitting down with Paul Stevens of Voltitude, Ltd, we discussed the current status of HAPS, their obstacles, and how PowerLight and laser power beaming may prove invaluable in the next HAPS frontier.
