Stratoship’s First High-Altitude Airship Reaches the Stratosphere

The Stratoship SZ-155 airship in the stratosphere above north-western Queensland.

Stratoship has reached the stratosphere with their first high-altitude airship. The historic flight lasted 11 hours and 12 minutes, and flew to a maximum altitude of 65,780ft. The SZ-155 airship spent over 8 hours at altitude, and marked Australia’s first sovereign-designed and manufactured HAPS (high-altitude platform station) to make it to the stratosphere.

The Stratoship SZ-155 was launched from an approved site in north-western Queensland at 07:55 am AEST on Monday, 5th of May, 2025. The airship reached altitude within an hour of launch and flew in the stratosphere for over 8 hours before commencing its descent and landing at 19:07 pm. The historic flight lasted 11 hours and 12 minutes in total and marked Australia’s first fully sovereign-designed and manufactured HAPS to make it to the stratosphere.

The flight was designed to test the endurance and performance of the Stratoship and to evaluate a number of research payloads in the stratosphere, including a bushfire detection system.

Managing Director, Daniel Field, stated: “I’m delighted to see our first airship punching above its weight and achieving 8 hours above 60,000 feet. It just seemed to be completely at home up there.” Field added: “This flight is a major step forward in Stratoship’s goal of providing long-duration real-time fire spotting flights.”

The Stratoship’s ability to fly in the stratosphere and hold its position for an extended period of time offers a distinct vantage point for detecting natural disasters in real time and providing persistent communications and EO (Earth observation) services. The stratosphere is above most of the Earth’s weather and winds, and opens a unique opportunity for continuous flight for months at a time.

Despite the successful flight, Stratoship is keeping its feet on the ground. “It was a terrific test flight, but not everything went according to plan. We have mountains of data to sift through, lessons to learn, and improvements to make before the next flight,” said Field.

The first fully sovereign HAPS flight highlights Australia’s potential as a centre of excellence for stratospheric technologies. “We’ve been working closely with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Airservices Australia, the local community in our flight area, the startup and research communities, and State government agencies,” says Field. “They’ve all been incredibly supportive and ready to work with us.”