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March 9th, 2023
New Zealand’s first solar-powered stratospheric aircraft has been built and flight testing has commenced. This aircraft will be a game-changer for collecting high-resolution aerial data for applications such as extreme weather events, environmental monitoring and precision agriculture. The “Kea Atmos Mk 1” will be used for stratospheric flight testing. It has a wingspan of 12.5 […]
January 16th, 2023
What comes to mind when you think of solar power? Is it using solar panels on your home, or maybe something smaller scale, like powering your small outdoor lights? Here at Kea Aerospace, we’re currently developing a solar-powered aircraft that can fly in the stratosphere continuously for months at a time. However, solar power has […]
October 21st, 2022
Kea Aerospace’s most recent stratospheric balloon flight proved three critical things: tech development, completing a student project and that “Kelly the Kea” is officially now a stratonaut. The flight reached an altitude of over 100,000 feet, that’s 30+ kilometres, during Kea Aerospace’s latest high-altitude balloon launch on October 15th. Kea’s are renowned for their intelligence […]
September 7th, 2022
The design of New Zealand’s first stratospheric aircraft has been finalised and construction is well underway, Christchurch-based Kea Aerospace has confirmed. The solar-powered “Kea Atmos Mk 1” will be used for high altitude flight testing. It has a wingspan of 12.5 metres and weighs under 40 kilograms. Designed to fly at 65,000 feet (20 kilometres) […]
June 28th, 2022
CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND – June 28th, 2022 – Kea Aerospace, a New Zealand-based solar-powered stratospheric aircraft developer, today announced that it has joined the HAPS Alliance, a non-profit association dedicated to building a high altitude platform stations (HAPS) ecosystem that brings digital connectivity to everyone, everywhere. As the first New Zealand member of the HAPS […]
May 1st, 2022
Over the years Canterbury has been home to many aviators. From Richard Pearse and Henry Wigram to Glenn Martin, Cantabrians have a history of pushing the boundaries in aviation and leading the way for the rest of the world. Here’s a timeline of some of the aviation milestones in Canterbury’s history that have paved the […]
February 16th, 2022
On a 36-hour flight on February 15th, Kea Aerospace flew the “X10” unmanned aircraft from the morning through the day and an entire night, then fully recharged the batteries using solar energy the next day. This aircraft demonstrates Kea Aerospace’s technology for long endurance perpetual flight. To our knowledge, it’s the first time this has […]
December 21st, 2021
Media Release: Kea Aerospace Achieves Longest Endurance UAV Flight In New Zealand On Sunday 19th December Kea Aerospace has recorded the longest known flight for an unmanned aircraft in New Zealand, in an electric-powered flight above Kaitōrete, near Christchurch. The battery and solar-powered vehicle flew non-stop for 14 hours and 3 minutes, beating the previous […]
October 10th, 2021
Kea Aerospace is building a solar-powered, unmanned aircraft that can fly in the stratosphere continuously for months at a time. The zero-emission aircraft, called the Kea Atmos, will carry a suite of imagery equipment that will be game-changing for many industries, vastly improving intelligence for applications such as smart cities, precision agriculture, disaster management and […]
June 11th, 2021
By Mark Rocket November last year, we publicly launched our company, along with the stratospheric project we’re working on and our involvement with New Zealand’s Airspace Integration Trials. Since then, a few people have asked how we got started, so here’s the story of Kea Aerospace’s origins. In 2007, I started commercial operations of Rocket […]
