Brisbane startup SkySight secures UK funding for stratospheric forecasting and flight planning

SkySight, a startup based in Brisbane, Queensland, has been awarded £718,586 in funding from the UK’s Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA). The funding will support a unified weather forecasting and flight-planning platform for High Altitude Pseudo-Satellites (HAPS) under ARIA’s Enduring Atmospheric Platforms programme.

HAPS are aircraft designed to operate persistently in the stratosphere. SkySight’s platform will help operators plan routes and keep aircraft above a target area while accounting for changing weather, solar energy and beamed power.

The project will be delivered through SkySight’s UK subsidiary, building on its expertise in stratospheric wave forecasting for The Perlan Project, BAE Systems, Kea Aerospace and others.

The platform’s planned capabilities include:

• Forecasts updated every 20 minutes.
• Very high-resolution atmospheric modelling.
• Tools to identify favourable weather conditions for radio-frequency (RF) and laser power beaming.
• Interactive 4D route planning across location, altitude and time, helping aircraft remain above a target area while accounting for weather, solar energy and beamed power.
• API integrations connecting forecasts and route guidance with partner aircraft tracking and control systems.

Led by Programme Director Rico Chandra, Enduring Atmospheric Platforms is backed by £70 million over 3.5 years. SkySight is one of 18 funded teams developing technologies to make stratospheric operations reliable and cost-effective, supporting advanced communications and connectivity for underserved regions.

The programme’s central goal is to demonstrate that communications payloads can be kept aloft and powered in the stratosphere above the UK for a week.

SkySight is recruiting data scientists with backgrounds in aviation, artificial intelligence and weather. To enquire, contact skysight@skysight.io.

Media enquiries

SkySight: skysight@skysight.io

ARIA: Melissa Bradshaw, melissa.bradshaw@aria.org.uk

About ARIA

ARIA is an R&D funding agency created to unlock technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone. Created by an Act of Parliament and sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, it funds teams of scientists and engineers to pursue research at the edge of what is scientifically and technologically possible.