Flying the world fueled by thermals, sustainable energy, and passion — streaming live science data from 10,000 meters.
Push the boundaries of what's possible using only electric propulsion and soaring flight. We rely on thermals, ridge lift, and mountain waves — the same invisible rivers of air that eagles have used for millions of years — combined with a lightweight electric motor.
The glider carries a suite of sensors covering multiple disciplines, from physics to chemisty and aerobiology. Data collected across multiple continents and altitudes contributing to ongoing research at partner institutes.
Every sensor reading, GPS coordinate, and cockpit video frame is transmitted via satellite link and ingested by a cloud-native pipeline — Kubernetes, event streaming, real-time dashboards — so that scientists and the public can watch discovery unfold, live, from anywhere on the planet.
Science payloads selected in collaboration with research institutions, building an open dataset available to everyone.
Continuous measurement of CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, and O₃ concentration profiles.
Samplers looking at airborne spores, pollen, and microorganisms at different altitudes.
Collects atmospheric microplastic particles, contributing to a global altitude-resolved microplastic dataset.
Low-frequency magnetic field sensors looking at global lightning activity and Schumann resonances.
Temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind profiling at research grade — equivalent to a radiosonde.
When the glider is airborne, this section streams live cockpit video and real-time telemetry ingested from the satellite uplink.
Aiming at an onboard AI system processing live weather data, real-time sensor readings and a decade of global soaring records to act as the pilot's second brain. Not to command, but to recommend.
Taking cloud native to new heights, with an edge device linked to the ground segment in a fully containerised, event-driven pipeline ingesting raw telemetry from the satellite link and exposing it to the public within seconds of transmission.
Klaus is a four-time world champion and, with over 60 world records, the most successful glider pilot of all time. In 1998, he founded the Research Group Mountain-Wave-Project with the aim to make gliding more visible in an exciting contrast between science, adventure, spectacular landscapes and records.
Ricardo is a computing engineer at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and a passionate glider pilot and instructor. He's been promoting and advocating technology developments for scientific computing and leads the technology parts of the project.
Jean-Marc was born (almost literally) on an airfield, and has been involved in aviation since then becoming an accomplished glider pilot and instructor. Among many other things, he's a cinema director and responsible for all the content production in the project.
Email us at contact@highaltitudelab.com to join the adventure.