SoftBank Backs Startup Building Giant Floating Climate Stations
New Mexico-based Sceye is building high-altitude platform stations, designed to provide environmental monitoring and connectivity.
Source: Sceye Inc.
A startup building massive, bullet-shaped helium balloons that float in the stratosphere has raised $15 million from Japan’s SoftBank Corp. — part of an effort to monitor climate data and bring connectivity to hard-to-reach areas.
The company, called Sceye Inc., has built more than 20 of its zeppelin-like airships, stationed at a sprawling 41,600-square-foot warehouse in New Mexico. The vehicles — technically called high-altitude platform stations — are 214 feet long, almost the size of a Boeing 747’s wingspan, and are equipped with specialized cameras and radars.