An American company named Sceye has completed an unprecedented stratospheric flight, traveling from New Mexico to Japan and returning within a month, covering approximately 30,000 kilometers. This mission, called Service Test 1 (ST1), involved an unmanned platform operating in the stratosphere, a region of the atmosphere above the weather layer but below orbiting satellites. The platform provided broadband mobile connectivity to standard smartphones using SoftBank's network, equivalent to the coverage of about 500 traditional ground-based relay antennas. The system used embedded edge computing, a method of processing data closer to the source, achieving a latency of 68 milliseconds—more than 40% faster than traditional cloud processing. This is considered a world first for a High Altitude Platform System (HAPS), a type of aerial technology used to provide internet and communication services. The mission began in Moriarty, New Mexico, where the company launched its stratospheric platform. Thirteen days later, the platform reached Japanese airspace and operated there for a week in partnership with SoftBank Corp. The return journey took the same amount of time, bringing the platform back near its original location. The entire journey lasted thirty days and covered about 30,000 kilometers, showcasing the capabilities of a free-floating, unmanned balloon that required no pilot. This demonstrated the potential of HAPS technology to provide long-distance, high-speed connectivity without the need for traditional infrastructure. At the core of the mission was a device called SceyeCELL, which functions like a cellular tower in the sky. A single Sceye HAPS can cover an area comparable to around 500 conventional ground-based relay antennas. During the tests over Japan, the device successfully provided broadband mobile connectivity to standard smartphones without requiring any special equipment. It also validated emergency call capabilities through an alert system designed for use during large-scale disasters, offering a potential tool for disaster response and communication in remote or affected areas. The ST1 mission also tested the ability to process data directly on board the platform using edge computing, which allowed for faster processing by handling data in the stratosphere instead of sending it to distant servers. The average round-trip response time was measured at 68 milliseconds, a world-first achievement in HAPS technology. This was made possible by installing both a mobile core network and a web server on the platform, enabling fully embedded processing before sending results back to ground-based smartphones. Additionally, the mission tested communication between the stratospheric platform and drones, a critical step in building what the company refers to as a 3D communication network that operates at different altitudes. According to Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, founder and CEO of Sceye, these stratospheric platforms function similarly to geostationary satellites but are approximately 1,800 times closer to Earth, offering significant advantages in cost and performance. This unique position between ground-based antennas and satellites makes the stratosphere an ideal testing ground for future mobile networks, including the next generation of 6G technology. The success of the ST1 mission highlights the potential of HAPS to complement existing communication infrastructure and support the development of more advanced and efficient global connectivity solutions.