High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS):
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) – National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) recently conducted successful tests on a High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS), marking a significant milestone in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology.
- High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) is a solar-powered UAV. It can generate solar energy and remain in the air for months or years.
- HAPS operates in the stratosphere (which extends from 6-50 km above the earth’s surface), flying at altitudes of 18-20 km, nearly double the heights of commercial aeroplanes.
- This altitude allows them to provide surveillance capabilities akin to satellites.
- HAPS is designed for persistent surveillance, communications, and specialist science missions.
- HAPS is a still-developing technology, and the successful test flight puts India among a very small group of countries currently experimenting with this technology.
- HAPS can be deployed in disaster situations and provide mobile communication networks (5G waves) in remote areas, if the normal networks get damaged due to any calamity.
- They can double up as “towers in the sky” and have more flexibility than satellites, in being able to map a piece of land from above.
