Zephalto surrounds itself with recognized partners after opening a branch in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) in June to benefit from the local space and industrial ecosystem.
The start-up founded in 2016 in Pouget (Hérault), wants to embark six passengers in space aboard a reusable stratospheric balloon to limit the environmental footprint.
A technological and scientific feat built in partnership with the French space agency and CNES, which signed an exclusive agreement with the start-up in October.
Passengers will fly to an altitude of 25 kilometers in a pressurized capsule to admire the Earth from the stratosphere.
Zephalto plans to fly six passengers to an altitude of 25 kilometers in a pressurized capsule, in order to admire the Earth from the stratosphere.
CNES
“We are happy with the trust placed in us by CNES and its willingness to support us,” emphasizes Vincent Farret d'Astiès, the founder of Zephalto.
Their operational know-how is incomparable and the diversity of their expertise was essential in the design of our first balloon for commercial flight, just as it is for our subsequent developments.
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The start-up will thus benefit from the expertise of the French and European space agencies, the CNES, historical co-pilot of the project, and the ESA.
For more than 60 years, the French space agency has recorded several thousand flights, making it one of the world leaders in operations on large balloons, especially in windy conditions.
Already three test flights with pilots
This partnership agreement will allow Zephalto to rely on the expertise of CNES in the fields of optimization of the balloon envelope with access to patents on balloon technologies, access to the various tools and CNES facilities to carry out tests, the training of Zephalto operators by teams from the French space agency and the optimization of security systems.
Flights carrying passengers will also make it possible to collect atmospheric data on new profiles, to set up new experimental protocols and to multiply space and terrestrial observations.
CNES will thus be able to count on the Zephalto balloon to embark payloads and conduct numerous experiments with partner laboratories and industrialists.
Zephalto has already carried out three test flights with pilots on board at different altitudes and is now working on the production of the pressurized capsule with French suppliers.
