High Altitude Platforms have remained an emerging market even in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. What is driving this interest, and why might the current wave of HAPs-related activity be any different from those of previous decades?
High Altitude Balloons Are Primary Revenue Driver, with Telcos Taking Greater Interest in HAPs Cambridge, MA – NSR’s High Altitude Platforms, 4th Edition report, published today, forecasts approx. $4B in cumulative HAPs revenues over the next decade, for airships, balloons, and pseudo-satellite platforms. High altitude balloons are expected to be the primary driver of units and revenues, followed far behind by pseudo-satellites and airships. Telcos are.
Technological and regulatory progress has greatly expanded the remote sensing/Earth Observation (EO) market. However, significant tradeoffs continue to exist in current earth imaging solutions: EO satellites and constellations can provide wide area coverage but are susceptible to cloud cover and are usually at lower resolutions (with HR being relatively infrequent).