Urban Sky offers a rapidly deployable stratospheric balloon system called Microballoon that reaches 40,000–75,000 ft within minutes and can stay aloft for days to months, providing precise, steerable, and persistent coverage over a 100‑mile radius. Integrated mission‑control software enables drag‑and‑drop flight planning, real‑time telemetry, and modular payloads such as high‑resolution optical, infrared and communications sensors, delivering satellite‑like data with aircraft‑level resolution for defense, commercial and scientific users.
Funding
$16M raised to dateRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
JP+2Founders
Product
Problem
Current high‑altitude platforms are either expensive, slow to deploy satellites or limited in range, resolution, and weather resilience when using aircraft and drones, making routine, persistent stratospheric access impractical.
Solution
Urban Sky provides a rapidly deployable stratospheric balloon system—Microballoon—that reaches 40,000–75,000 ft within five minutes and can remain aloft for days to months. The platform is precisely placeable and steerable, enabling persistent coverage over a 100‑mile radius without the need for runways or fixed infrastructure. Integrated mission‑control software offers drag‑and‑drop flight planning, real‑time telemetry, weather overlays, and fleet management from a single dashboard. Payload‑agnostic mounting supports a range of sensors, including 10 cm optical imagers, long‑wave infrared cameras, and communications suites, delivering satellite‑like coverage with aircraft‑level resolution. Data is streamed live to users and can be packaged as high‑resolution imagery, thermal maps, or communications relays for defense, commercial, or scientific applications.
Target Audience
Primary customers include defense and intelligence agencies, commercial enterprises needing high‑resolution aerial data (e.g., infrastructure, agriculture, insurance), and research institutions requiring affordable, repeatable stratospheric access.
Features
- Microballoon variants (10, 12, 16 gore) with payload capacities from 4 lb up to 50 lb and float altitudes up to 75,000 ft
- Rapid launch capability: deployment in under 5 minutes from a single vehicle, no runway required
- Precise, steerable navigation for exact positioning and persistent coverage over a 100+ mile radius
- Integrated payload system (WALLABEE) with modular EO/IR imaging, signals intelligence, and edge processing for real‑time analytics
- Mission control software with drag‑and‑drop flight planning, live telemetry, weather integration, and multi‑mission fleet management
- Real‑time data downlink and encrypted, jam‑resistant communications links for beyond‑line‑of‑sight operations
- High‑resolution 10 cm optical imagery and long‑wave infrared thermal imaging from stratospheric altitude