When you hear the word ‘Stratosphere’ your mind may be flooded with images of space. For most of us, it is a layer of air above our heads we don’t pay attention to.
For one South Dakota company, however, the stratosphere is where they operate.
Aerostar leadership spoke at a recent Sioux Falls Rotary meeting detailing their newest technologies and corporate independence.
Aerostar is a local company that develops stratospheric balloons and airships. Their balloons can perform surveillance and provide communication at heights of up to 150,000 feet.
Russ Van Der Werff is the Vice President of Stratospheric Solutions for Aerostar. He said a joint project with Google unlocked a new market for their company.
“Think about it like, up at that altitude there is different layers. As the balloon moves up and down, if you can predict what direction the winds will be going at those different layers, you can persist that balloon over a target area. So, if you imagine that yellow circle as a stay within this bubble, for whatever kind of mission, sensing, or whatever you doing, as long as we stay in that circle, even if we are moving up and down, we are providing value to our customers," said Van Der Werff. "So that’s the kind of thing that unlocked, you know, whole bunch of new applications and markets for us. It's figuring out that wind steered navigation.”
Examples of the Aerostar’s projects include providing cellular service to isolated areas and providing surveillance on locations for months at a time.
Werff said Each balloon launch requires a five-to-seven-person crew and can be done from anywhere in the world within a two-hour window.
Aerostar has made a name for itself thanks in part to their development of an artificially intelligent wind steering navigation system. The AI powered prediction tool matched with the ability to control the balloon provides Aerostar an edge.
Despite recent growth and continuous demand, company leaders said they want the operation to stay local.
Jim Nelson is the President of Aerostar. He said the company is invested in South Dakota and continues to grow.
“We’re hiring across a number of areas. Most of the hiring is happening here in the Sioux Falls area. We are really excited about that and the response we have got. And making our name separate from Raven. We are so proud with the history we had with it but being known as Aerostar vs. a part of Raven is really come a long ways,” said Nelson.
Nelson said that Aerostar does not have many direct competitors as their business model is unique with large start-up cost.
