London-based World Mobile Group recently launched its first ‘aerostat’ giant tethered balloon in Massingir, Mozambique, in collaboration with Vodacom. Vodacom has reportedly shared its spectrum and other key technologies to enable the balloon’s launch for a two-month trial in November and December 2023. The trial in Mozambique is more than just a technological experiment. “The […]

There are plenty of well-known players looking to tap into the market for so-called space tourism, not least Sir Richard Branson and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. Now they might have new competitor in the shape of Halo Space, and balloon flights. Spain-based Halo Space has successfully flown a prototype stratospheric balloon up some 23 miles […]

Airbus has launched a connectivity services business through the creation of a dedicated HAPS (High Altitude Platform Station) services business based around Zephyr, Airbus’ HAPS technology platform. Airbus says this new business will help enable it to industrialise rapidly and begin serving a substantial total addressable market, providing low-latency connectivity services from the stratosphere for […]

Google, via its Alphabet parent company, has been developing its Loon high-altitude balloon-based platforms. The concept was that these very high-flying balloons would be platforms for distributing broadband signals to the ground. Japanese media conglomerate SoftBank says it has bought about 200 IP patents for Google’s High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) from Loon and will […]