BAE Systems PHASA-35
The PHASA-35 is a British solar-powered high-altitude pseudo-satellite with a 35 m wingspan, developed by BAE Systems and Prismatic. It made its first stratospheric flight in 2023, reaching about 66,000 ft and landing ready to fly again days later.
The PHASA-35 is a solar-powered High-Altitude Platform Station unmanned aerial vehicle developed by BAE Systems with Prismatic, a company BAE acquired in 2019. Its name comes from its 35 m wingspan; it weighs only about 150 kg and is designed to loiter for months at 65,000 ft or more carrying a payload of roughly 15 kg. Like the Airbus Zephyr, it is a Solar-Powered Aircraft that uses daytime solar generation to recharge batteries for night flight, relying on a very high aspect ratio wing for the lift-to-drag ratio needed to fly on so little power. In its first stratospheric flight, conducted from Spaceport America in New Mexico over the US Army White Sands Missile Range, it climbed above 66,000 ft, cruised in the stratosphere for about 24 hours, and landed in a serviceable condition — ready to be relaunched within days, demonstrating a quick launch-fly-land-reconfigure cycle. Intended missions mirror other HAPS programs: persistent communications relay, surveillance, and observation as a lower-cost, closer alternative to a satellite. Later versions are planned with more than double the solar generation and storage capacity of the original to enable progressively longer stratospheric missions.