An unmanned Airbus drone aircraft, a 75 kilogram Zephyr, flew for almost 26 days. It will offer local satellite-like services and runs on solar power. It flies in the stratosphere at an average altitude of 70,000 feet and has a wingspan of 25 meters.
Zephyr is a High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) that fills a capability gap between satellites and UAVs.
Airbus has two variants of the Zephyr, designed to accommodate a variety of payloads.
The production model Zephyr S has a wingspan of 25m and weighs less than 75kg. It is able to carry see, sense and connect payloads.
Currently in development, the larger Zephyr T has a wingspan of 33m and weighs 140kg. It’s a larger size enables it to accommodate payloads with larger masses