Kea Aerospace unveils NZ-first stratospheric aircraft design

According to Christchurch-based Kea Aerospace, the final design of New Zealand’s first stratospheric aircraft has been finalised and construction is well underway.

With a wingspan of 12.5 metres and weighing under 40 kilograms, the solar-powered ‘Kea Atmos Mk 1’ is designed to fly at 65,000 feet (20 kilometres) – around twice the altitude of commercial airliners.

The aircraft will be capable of flying high altitude test flights of up to 16 hours and subsequent versions will be developed to fly continuously for months at a time.

“This is the first stratospheric aircraft built in New Zealand,” said Kea Aerospace chief executive Mark Rocket. “We started construction in July, and we’re planning for the first stratospheric flight to take-off in early 2023.

At that height it will be flying in extreme conditions – at about -65 degrees Celsius, and in less than 10% of the air density we have at sea level. The aircraft needs to be extremely light, but also be incredibly robust to operate successfully in those conditions.

Kea Aerospace has been building and flying a range of electricpowered aircraft and high-altitude balloons as part of its program to build a global fleet of solar-powered uncrewed aircraft that will fly in the stratosphere for months at a time. Each aircraft will carry aerial imagery equipment, vastly improving the data available for activities including environmental monitoring, precision agriculture, disaster management and maritime awareness.

The first stratospheric flight is planned to take-off in early 2023 from Tāwhaki, on Kaitorete, located around 50 kilometres south of Christchurch.

In May this year, Dawn Aerospace was listed in the Matchstiq Top 100 of 2022, a list of high-growth startups and tech companies to work for in New Zealand.

Also in May, the company announced it was selected by Blue Canyon Technologies (a whollyowned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies) to provide turnkey propulsion systems for the X-SAT Saturn satellite bus. Dawn Aerospace will supply thrusters, tanks, control electronics, and full-service support in logistics and propellant loading for the ESPA Grande-class satellite.

Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) has supported missions for the U.S. Air Force, NASA, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It also provided the Attitude Control Systems for the first interplanetary CubeSats, which successfully travelled to Mars.

According to BCT CEO Stephen Steg, given the fast-moving nature of their business, they need suppliers that can match their cadence and quality. “The in-space-heritage, creative thinking and solutionsfocused approach we’ve seen from Dawn Aerospace, gives us great confidence in their ability to deliver,” he said.

Dawn Aerospace earlier announced it had been contracted to produce more than 100 thrusters for clients across the US, Europe, Japan, India, and Indonesia. It has propulsion contracts for a series of constellations, including Pixxel’s hyperspectral imaging constellation and the Indonesian Space Agency’s (LAPAN) early-tsunami warning constellation. Other contracts include the continued supply for a series of Orbital Transfer Vehicles, such as D-Orbit’s ION spacecraft and UARX’s OSSIE spacecraft.

The comapny has achieved a series of significant milestones recently, including launching 27 propulsion units and flying on all SpaceX Transporter missions to date; significant funding from tech investment firm – Movac; and signing a series of commercial satellite customers globally.