Denis Yefremov, General Director of the Russian company Stratonaftika, announced that stratospheric platforms could be a promising solution for providing communications in emergency situations or in remote, limited areas.
A system involving balloons and stratospheric drones is currently being developed, which can be deployed in the stratosphere above a specific location within one day.
This was stated by Denis Yefremov, General Director of the Russian company "Stratonaftika", on the sidelines of the International Youth Scientific Conference "Gagarin Readings".
Yefremov said: "The advantage of stratospheric platforms, for example, is their speed of deployment. This means that if communications need to be provided in emergencies or in relatively small areas, these platforms can be a promising solution. A system, which is currently under development, can be deployed over a specific location within one day."
The expert stressed the need to develop an integrated system between space and stratospheric devices in the near future, explaining: “In addition, there are scenarios in which stratospheric balloons can be used as signal relay systems for signals received from satellites, providing local communication with a low response time, given that they operate at an altitude of approximately 20 kilometers, and not 300–400 kilometers or more.”
Yefremov also pointed out that there is no need to deploy stratospheric platforms over seas and oceans, as low-orbit satellite constellations can efficiently cover those areas.
The Russian magazine Telesputnik had previously reported that balloons at an altitude of up to 5 kilometers, along with the Russian satellite system Rasvet, could provide mobile internet speeds of up to 45 megabits per second directly to ordinary smartphones in the Russian Arctic region.
It is worth noting that Yan Chepisov, head of the Russian State Aerospace Technology Center, previously stated that Russia is developing an alternative to satellite communications systems, relying on unmanned platforms and stratospheric balloons instead of expensive satellites. He explained that a limited number of these platforms, perhaps only about 10, could be sufficient to ensure continuous communication in operational areas, such as combat zones.
