Sceye's August laser test tracked its stratospheric airship from the ground
Sceye's August test tracked ST1 and gathered atmospheric data for future optical links; it demonstrated no communications link.
By RuntimeWire Staff · Published
Primary source: PR Newswire
Why it matters
Sceye and SoftBank tested a prerequisite for future laser communications: acquiring and tracking a moving HAPS while receiving reflected pulses. The result adds a technical milestone to a Japan partnership already aimed at pre-commercial connectivity services, while leaving the actual optical data link unproven.
Sceye's ST1 stratospheric platform completed a laser-ranging test that let a ground team track it in real time and receive reflected laser pulses. The test, conducted with SoftBank Corp., Hitotsubashi University and Japan's National Institute of Polar Research, took place on August 23rd and 24th. Sceye provided the platform; its founder and CEO, Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, is the company's lead executive. SoftBank's technical account describes the result as the first demonstration of its kind, based on the organizations' review of publicly available information as of September 8th. Sceye's announcement also describes the test and the company's role.
For Frandsen, whose previous companies built products around safe drinking water, food security and public health, the test extends a longstanding bet: bring technology developed for space closer to Earth, where it can support services on the ground. He founded Sceye in 2014 after building Vestergaard and LifeStraw. Sceye's account of its origins says his work in material science brought him into contact with NASA and USAID's Launch Council, where he encountered the idea of using near-space platforms to address humanitarian and environmental problems.
The laser test is a specific step toward turning that thesis into infrastructure. It measured whether equipment on the ground could acquire a moving platform, aim a laser at it and continuously receive the reflected signal. The measurements, including how much light weakened as it traveled through the atmosphere, are intended to help engineers specify and install future optical communications equipment.
A ranging test, not a data link
The hardware depended on contributions from all three research partners. NIPR designed a corner cube reflector, an optical device that returns incoming light toward its source. SoftBank built the assembly that held the reflector and coordinated its installation on Sceye's ST1. Hitotsubashi University adapted its compact Omni-SLR satellite laser-ranging system into a portable ground setup capable of tracking the HAPS as it moved.
The team sent laser pulses upward and detected their return. The test generated ranging and atmospheric data; it did not demonstrate a high-capacity laser link carrying traffic between the platform and a ground station. SoftBank says the data will help determine how future optical equipment should be installed on a HAPS and contribute to work toward links connecting satellites, stratospheric platforms and the ground.
The demonstration also involved flight-safety constraints. SoftBank said the system used a low-power laser and stopped transmission whenever a crewed aircraft was in the direction of the HAPS. The team observed the platform off Cape Muroto in Kochi Prefecture on August 22nd to adjust the ground-system software, then conducted the continuous tracking and ranging test over the following two days.
A partner, a platform and a commercial timetable
Sceye's role reflects its business relationship with SoftBank. In June 2025, SoftBank announced an equity investment in Sceye and exclusive rights to provide HAPS-based services in Japan using its platform. SoftBank's announcement also set out a plan for pre-commercial HAPS services in Japan in 2026. The ranging work addresses equipment requirements for a possible optical communications layer.
ST1 had already carried out connectivity tests during its Japan mission, including direct-to-device connectivity through SoftBank's core network, communications with drones and edge computing aboard the platform, according to Sceye's September flight report. The month-long mission launched from New Mexico on August 9th, traveled nearly 30,000 kilometers on a round trip to Japan and back, and spent more than seven days operating over Japan. The laser experiment tested the precision needed to point a narrow optical beam at a moving target in the stratosphere.
Frandsen has described the platform as a way to connect ground, stratosphere and space. That ambition extends beyond this test. Reliable optical communications will depend on precise pointing, the ability to track the platform and managing atmospheric effects on the signal. Sceye CTO Johnny Truong likened the tracking challenge to keeping a laser pointer centered on a moving coin ten miles away. The returned pulses show tracking and ranging under test conditions; optical links remain an engineering goal.
The announcement also sits within Sceye's financing and commercialization plans. In September 2024, Sceye said it closed a Series C led by Mawarid Holding Company at a $525 million pre-money valuation. Sceye's funding announcement did not disclose the round size. SoftBank later joined as an equity investor and prospective Japanese service partner. Sceye's release presents the laser test as data-gathering for future equipment requirements, not as a commercial product claim.
For Frandsen, the immediate proof is narrow but useful: the same long-duration platform being tested for mobile connectivity and other payloads can also carry equipment that lets a ground team follow it with a laser. A scalable optical link remains an engineering goal. The August test supplied a piece of the evidence needed to work toward one.