Sceye Wins NASA Grant to Advance Space Monitoring

Sceye receives NASA funding in an endeavor to advance environmental surveillance using its space-linked ability stratospheric platform system at high altitude.

NASA Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards have been given to New Mexico-based Sceye to further the development of the high-altitude platform system (HAPS), which will be used in environmental monitoring involving space. The grant, in collaboration with Spectral Sciences, Inc., is an eight hundred and fifty thousand dollar award that facilitates creating a hyperspectral sensor, which will be used in conducting continuous monitoring of the stratosphere.

The HAPS platform will have a working RTI of weeks or months, which will provide continuous data on a regular basis to enhance the Earth observation and environmental analysis. The Vice President of Spectral Sciences, Marsha Fox, says that this innovation will revolutionize how scientists keep track of crops, ecosystems and other natural events like volcanic eruptions.

HAPS of Sceye operates under solar power and therefore uses batteries and thus it helps to fill the gap between earth-based networks and space systems. CEO Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen emphasized the fact that the platform is able to sustain a presence throughout an area at all times, an impossible task for satellites and drones. The system is stationary, unlike the low earth orbit satellites, which allows real-time precision monitoring.

The technology is also viewed by the company as one of the enablers of the expanding space communications ecosystem, which contributes to telecom services and data delivery. It also has partnerships with companies such as SoftBank, which helps in increasing commercial rollouts, and pilot flights are set for 2026 in Japan.

It is this further advancement that positions Sceye as what it is today: a game changer in terms of the collaboration of space-based systems and stratifying systems in ensuring that the planet is safeguarded and global networks are established.