Kea Aerospace
{{Short description|New Zealand aerospace company}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox company
| image = Visit of NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pamela Melroy - 52751921217.jpg
| image_caption = From left: founders Mark Rocket and Philipp Sültrop with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pamela Melroy
| founded = 2018
| founder = {{Unbulleted list|Mark Rocket|Philipp Sültrop}}
| hq_location_city = Christchurch
| hq_location_country = New Zealand
| website = {{URL|keaaerospace.com}}
}}
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{{Cite news |date=12 February 2025 |title=Kea Aerospace completes solar-powered stratospheric flight |url=https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/02/12/kea-aerospace-completes-solar-powered-stratospheric-flight/ |access-date=5 April 2025 |work=1News}} by Mark Rocket, a seed investor of Rocket Lab,{{Cite news |date=20 October 2022 |title=Kea Aerospace launch plush toy into stratosphere aboard balloon |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/130222074/kea-aerospace-launch-plush-toy-into-stratosphere-aboard-balloon?_gl=1*60lksh*_ga*NzY4NDc5NDk4LjE3MzIwNTIyNjk.*_ga_P3Q4DDZ07F*MTc0MzgwNTgwMi4xOS4wLjE3NDM4MDU4MDIuNjAuMC4w |access-date=5 April 2025 |work=Stuff}} as well as Philipp Sültrop.{{Cite news |title=Case Study: Kea Aerospace |url=https://www.christchurchnz.com/business/business-clusters/aerospace-and-future-transport/kea-aerospace |access-date=5 April 2025 |work=ChristchurchNZ.com}} Rocket is the CEO of Kea,{{Cite news |date=18 November 2020 |title=Christchurch company's solar-power drone aims to rethink aerial imaging |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/430910/christchurch-company-s-solar-power-drone-aims-to-rethink-aerial-imaging |access-date=5 April 2025 |work=RNZ}} and Wolfgang Leitner provided early funding.{{Cite news |date=12 February 2025 |title=Watch: Mark Rocket's Kea Aerospace achieves stratospheric flight |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/watch-mark-rockets-kea-aerospace-achieves-stratespheric-flight/GKGBNFSKRVFNHHRHMFDAX5WTJ4/ |access-date=5 April 2025 |work=The New Zealand Herald}} 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.{{Cite news |date=20 April 2024 |title=Christchurch company working with Nasa on environmental monitoring tech |url=https://www.thepress.co.nz/business/350241505/christchurch-company-working-nasa-environmental-monitoring-tech |access-date=5 April 2025 |work=The Press}} 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 {{Convert|56,284|ft|order=flip}}, with a flight duration of 8 hours and 20 minutes where it flew a total distance of {{Convert|420|km}}. It has a wingspan of 12.5 metres and a weight under {{Convert|40|kg}}. 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.{{Cite news |date=5 April 2025 |title=Meet the Kea: a solar-powered plane launched from a car near Christchurch that flies continuously around the Earth |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/360640778/meet-kea-solar-powered-plane-launched-car-near-christchurch-flies-continuously-around-earth |access-date=5 April 2025 |work=The F#$%ing News |publisher=Stuff}} 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 [and] 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.