A solar-powered aircraft designed to stay in the stratosphere for weeks at a time — persistent Earth observation and communications, closer than any satellite, longer than any aircraft.
Photon is built to loiter above a target area for days or even weeks — a flexible, cost-effective alternative to satellites for remote sensing, atmospheric research, disaster monitoring and secure communications.
Designed for continuous solar-powered operation at 18–20 km altitude.
Launchable rapidly, without extensive infrastructure — 10–15 m wingspan.
~2–3 kg payload bay for sensing and communications packages.
Custom-built flight computers, energy management and comms — the ecosystem we already fly on balloons.
Together with the Straton Glider, our custom communications network and growing suite of embedded systems, Photon completes a fully self-sufficient stratospheric ecosystem — for both civilian and defense applications.