Kea Aerospace

Kea Aerospace is a Christchurch, New Zealand-based company that is developing a solar-powered aerial imaging aircraft that goes into the stratosphere.

History

The Christchurch-based company was founded in 2018 by Mark Rocket, a seed investor of Rocket Lab, as well as Philipp Sültrop. Rocket is the CEO of Kea, and Wolfgang Leitner provided early funding. Kea Aerospace became the second company in New Zealand to take participate in the government's Airspace Integration Trials Programme. Kea is collaborating with the NASA Ames Research Center on the image processing algorithms. In a October 2022 high-altitude balloon flight to take measurements and test their equipment, the company brought a kea soft toy, named Kelly the Kea, into the stratosphere. It landed in a farm using a parachute.
In February 2025 the Kea Atmos made its first flight into the stratosphere, flying to an altitude of, with a flight duration of 8 hours and 20 minutes where it flew a total distance of. It has a wingspan of 12.5 metres and a weight under. It is solar powered, and transmits the data it is receiving to the ground. The aircraft, which has been described as a "cross between a satellite and a plane", is solar-powered. The company aims at having flights that last for months at a time, and says that the aircraft may be used for "things like maritime surveillance, environmental monitoring disaster management". As of 2025, the company launches the aircraft using a driving car. This is because the aircraft must be very light, meaning it cannot afford to use a landing gear.