Photo/Illutration Softbank Corp. said it will start trial tests of the High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) system in Japan in 2026. (Provided by Softbank Corp.)

Telecom giant Softbank Corp. announced it will begin trials of a telecommunications system that operates closer to Earth than satellites.

The High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) sends radio waves to the ground surface from an altitude of 20 kilometers.

Trials of the “base stations in the sky” are set to begin in Japan in 2026 with full-fledged telecommunications services eyed in 2027 or later.

Each HAPS measures 65 meters and relies on the buoyancy of helium gas to remain airborne. The airships will be manufactured by Sceye Inc., a U.S. maker of aerospace parts.

The HAPS system can deliver radio waves to a broad ground-surface area measuring 200 km across, which makes it ideal when restoring communications in times of disaster and providing network access to hard-to-reach areas such as mountainous regions. The system can also be used to communicate with drones.

The HAPS vehicles are closer to the ground surface than satellites, such as those of the Starlink constellation operated by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of the United States.

They can be used to provide voice calls, internet access and other services in much the same way that terrestrial networks do.

HAPS services will be able to deliver radio waves within hours of a disaster occurring, Softbank officials said.

“We want to restore communications in a disaster in the three stages of immediate response by satellites, HAPS services to be made available within several hours, and finally, ground-based station services,” a Softbank official said.

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