{"id":27869664,"date":"2026-10-13T10:33:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T08:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/stratospheric-balloons-solar-gliders-pseudo-satellites-haps-explained\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T10:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T08:33:28","slug":"stratospheric-balloons-solar-gliders-pseudo-satellites-haps-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/es\/stratospheric-balloons-solar-gliders-pseudo-satellites-haps-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Stratospheric Spies: Balloons, Solar Gliders and Pseudo-Satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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The stratosphere, roughly 18 to 30 kilometres up for the purposes of this story, is too high for airliners and most fighters, far below satellites, and calm enough that a balloon or a very light aircraft can hang there for days or weeks.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Militaries have been trying to exploit it since the 1940s. This week the US Army revealed that it flew swarms of high-altitude balloons to support operations in the Middle East, and that it is now deciding whether the future belongs to balloons, solar-powered gliders or so-called pseudo-satellites. \"Would it be a balloon? Would it be a solar glider? Would it be some sort of pseudo satellite?\" the Army's Andrew Evans asked.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Here is how each one works, and why an old idea keeps coming back.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f6f8;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:26px 0\">\r\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117;font-size:17px\">Quick Facts: The Stratosphere as a Sensor Layer<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:3px 0;font-size:15px\"><strong>Typical altitude:<\/strong> About 18 to 30 km (60,000 to 100,000 ft)<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:3px 0;font-size:15px\"><strong>Why there:<\/strong> Above weather, airliners and most air defences; below satellites<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:3px 0;font-size:15px\"><strong>Main options:<\/strong> Free balloons, steerable balloons, solar-powered aircraft (HAPS)<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:3px 0;font-size:15px\"><strong>Early example:<\/strong> Project Genetrix: 512 camera balloons launched in 1956<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:3px 0;font-size:15px\"><strong>Longest Zephyr flight:<\/strong> 64 days aloft in 2022<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:3px 0;font-size:15px\"><strong>Best-known incident:<\/strong> Chinese balloon shot down by an F-22 off South Carolina, 4 February 2023<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:3px 0;font-size:15px\"><strong>Big advantage:<\/strong> Cheap, persistent coverage<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:3px 0;font-size:15px\"><strong>Big weakness:<\/strong> Wind: hard to steer and hard to keep on station<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why the Stratosphere<\/h2>\r\n<p>Satellites see a lot but often only in passing: imaging satellites in low orbit circle the Earth roughly every 90 minutes and are over a given spot for a few minutes at a time. Drones and spy planes can loiter, but they need runways, crews and a lot of fuel, and they can be shot down. The stratosphere offers a middle way. Something parked at 20 kilometres can see a circle hundreds of kilometres across, stay for days, and costs a tiny fraction of a satellite.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It is also hard to hit. Stratospheric balloons are slow, cold and have almost no radar or heat signature. Many surface-to-air missiles can technically reach them, but spending an expensive missile on a cheap balloon is a poor trade.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The catch is the wind. A balloon goes where the air takes it. For most of history, that meant launching many balloons and hoping some drifted over the target.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/project-mogul-balloon-train-diagram-usaf.png\" alt=\"Diagram of a Project Mogul balloon train from the 1995 USAF report\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Project Mogul balloon train, as drawn in the US Air Force's 1995 report. Mogul's long strings of balloons carried microphones to listen for Soviet nuclear tests. U.S. Air Force, public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Mogul, Genetrix and the First Balloon Spies<\/h2>\r\n<p>In 1947, Project Mogul flew long trains of balloons over New Mexico carrying microphones to listen for distant Soviet nuclear tests. One of them came down near Roswell, and the debris launched a UFO legend that has outlived the project by almost 80 years.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Project Genetrix was more direct. Authorised by President Eisenhower at the end of 1955, it launched 512 camera-carrying balloons from Norway, Scotland, West Germany and Turkey between 10 January and 6 February 1956, aiming them across the Soviet Union and China on the jet stream. The cover story was weather research. Only 54 were recovered and 31 produced usable photographs, but those covered more than 1.1 million square miles. Soviet MiG pilots learned to catch the balloons at dawn, when the cooling gas made them sink into range. When the Kremlin protested, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles defended the balloons in public.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Yes, I think that we feel that way.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>John Foster Dulles<\/strong> &mdash; US Secretary of State, asked in 1956 whether the US had the right to send balloons anywhere (The New York Times, 8 February 1956)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Within months the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/u-2-dragon-lady\/\">U-2<\/a> took over the job, and spy satellites followed. Balloons faded from the front line of reconnaissance for more than half a century.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tRF6O1vi8HY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:6px 0 24px;font-style:italic\">The Wall Street Journal on how balloons became an aerial surveillance tool, from the 1950s to today.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Steerable Balloons<\/h2>\r\n<p>What changed is steering. A modern stratospheric balloon still cannot fly against the wind, but it can change altitude, and winds at different heights blow in different directions. By pumping air in and out of a ballast chamber or venting gas, and using weather forecasts and software to choose the right layer, a balloon can loiter over a region rather than drifting away.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Google's sister company Loon used the technique to deliver mobile internet from the stratosphere before it shut down in 2021. Several American companies now sell similar balloons to the military, carrying cameras, signals receivers or radio relays. They are cheap enough to launch in dozens, which is what the US Army did over the Middle East.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The world was reminded of the idea in early 2023, when a Chinese balloon drifted across North America. On 4 February an <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-22-raptor\/\">F-22 Raptor<\/a> shot it down off South Carolina with a Sidewinder missile, and US Navy divers recovered the wreckage.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/chinese-balloon-envelope-recovery-us-navy-2023.jpg\" alt=\"US Navy sailors recover the Chinese high-altitude balloon envelope off South Carolina, February 2023\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">US Navy sailors recover part of the Chinese balloon shot down off South Carolina on 4 February 2023. U.S. Navy photo, public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Solar Gliders and Pseudo-Satellites<\/h2>\r\n<p>The other approach is to fly. High-altitude pseudo-satellites, or HAPS, are ultra-light, solar-powered aircraft that climb into the stratosphere and stay there, charging batteries by day to keep flying through the night. The best known is the Airbus Zephyr, a 25-metre-wingspan aircraft weighing around 60 to 65 kilograms. In 2022 a Zephyr stayed aloft for 64 days, longer than any Zephyr before it, before it was lost in turbulence over Arizona.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>HAPS can hold position far better than balloons, and they can be brought back down and reused. They are also fragile, expensive compared with balloons and tightly limited by weather and the seasons, because winter nights are long and the sun is low. Several have been lost in testing. Airbus has set up a spin-off company, AALTO, to sell Zephyr-based services for communications and Earth observation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Would it be a balloon? Would it be a solar glider? Would it be some sort of pseudo satellite?&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Andrew Evans<\/strong> &mdash; Director, Strategy &amp; Transformation Office, US Army G-2, to Breaking Defense, 12 October 2026<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l7WqP_MYLkM\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:6px 0 24px;font-style:italic\">BBC News on the solar-powered Zephyr, an aircraft designed to stay in the stratosphere for weeks.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">An Old Idea Whose Time Has Come Again<\/h2>\r\n<p>The case for the stratosphere is stronger now than in Eisenhower's day. Satellites have become targets, drones have proved vulnerable, and cameras and radios have shrunk enough to fit under a balloon or on a glider's wing. Above all, war has become a contest of cost: a sensor that costs less than the missile fired at it is a sensor worth having.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Balloons will not replace satellites or reconnaissance aircraft. But a layer of cheap, persistent sensors 20 kilometres up is exactly what a military wants when everything else is either too expensive, too vulnerable or too far away. Seventy years after Genetrix, the balloons are back.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mXL7bHS2SAw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:6px 0 24px;font-style:italic\">Airbus Defence and Space on the Zephyr's record-breaking 2022 flight.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: Wikipedia (Project Genetrix; Project Mogul; Airbus Zephyr; 2023 Chinese balloon incident); Breaking Defense; The New York Times (1956); U.S. Air Force; U.S. Navy.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What is a high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS)?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A high-altitude pseudo-satellite is an uncrewed aircraft or airship that flies in the stratosphere, typically around 20 kilometres up, for weeks at a time. Solar-powered HAPS such as the Airbus Zephyr charge batteries by day to keep flying at night, acting like a low, cheap satellite.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How long can the Airbus Zephyr stay in the air?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">In 2022 an Airbus Zephyr stayed aloft for 64 days, covering about 56,000 kilometres, before it was lost in turbulence over Arizona. Earlier, in 2010, a Zephyr 7 set an officially recognised duration record of about 14 days.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What was Project Genetrix?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Project Genetrix was a US reconnaissance programme that launched 512 camera-carrying balloons across the Soviet Union and China between January and February 1956, under the cover of weather research. Only 54 were recovered and 31 returned usable photos, but they covered more than 1.1 million square miles.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How can a balloon be steered in the stratosphere?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A stratospheric balloon cannot fly against the wind, but it can change altitude. Because winds at different heights blow in different directions, software can move the balloon up or down into the layer that carries it where it needs to go, letting it loiter over an area.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why do militaries use the stratosphere for surveillance?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The stratosphere is above weather, airliners and most fighters but far below satellites. A sensor there can watch an area hundreds of kilometres wide for days at low cost, which makes balloons and solar aircraft attractive alongside expensive satellites and vulnerable drones.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How was the 2023 Chinese balloon shot down?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">On 4 February 2023, a US Air Force F-22 Raptor shot down the Chinese high-altitude balloon off the coast of South Carolina with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, after it had drifted across North America. US Navy teams then recovered the wreckage from the sea.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is a high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS)?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"A high-altitude pseudo-satellite is an uncrewed aircraft or airship that flies in the stratosphere, typically around 20 kilometres up, for weeks at a time. Solar-powered HAPS such as the Airbus Zephyr charge batteries by day to keep flying at night, acting like a low, cheap satellite.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How long can the Airbus Zephyr stay in the air?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"In 2022 an Airbus Zephyr stayed aloft for 64 days, covering about 56,000 kilometres, before it was lost in turbulence over Arizona. 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US Navy teams then recovered the wreckage from the sea.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/us-army-high-altitude-balloon-swarms-centcom-middle-east-2026\/\">Army Balloon Swarms: Dozens Flew for CENTCOM in the Middle East<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/breitling-orbiter-3-first-balloon-around-the-world-1999\/\">The First Balloon to Circle the World<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/vilnius-airport-balloons-belarus-hybrid-attack-september-2026\/\">Vilnius Airport Shut by Balloons: NATO Confirms a Hybrid Uptick<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this story Between the top of the weather and the bottom of space lies a band of sky that almost nobody uses. The stratosphere, roughly 18 to 30 kilometres up for the purposes of this story, is too high for airliners and most fighters, far below satellites, and calm enough that a balloon or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":27869473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27869664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Stratospheric Balloons and Pseudo-Satellites Explained | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How stratospheric balloons, solar gliders and pseudo-satellites like the Airbus Zephyr work, from 1956 Project Genetrix to the US Army today.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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