Red Balloon Aerospace, Armenia’s Bazoomq partner for stratospheric platforms and AI testing

Hyderabad: Vijayawada-based near space startup Red Balloon Aerospace Private Limited has joined hands with Armenia’s private space research player Bazoomq Space Research Laboratory to jointly develop and test stratospheric platforms, payload integration methods and onboard artificial intelligence applications.The agreement was announced three weeks after Red Balloon Aerospace launched India’s first indigenous stratospheric super-pressure balloon platform, VISTA, marking the Indian near-space startup’s first international research partnership.

Mission SANA, flown on May 27, carried commercial payloads to the stratosphere, placing India among a small group of nations with such capability.Under the MoU inked by the two companies, they will plan stratospheric demonstration campaigns, test payloads in near-space conditions, conduct atmospheric research and develop edge computing, autonomy and data workflows.

They may also pursue government programmes, grants and customer-funded prototypes, with specific activities to be set out in future work plans.Red Balloon Aerospace co-founder and CEO Dr CVS Kiran said stratospheric platforms complement satellites by offering localized coverage, faster deployment and practical access to near-space missions.Bazoomq CEO and co-founder Avetik Grigoryan said the partnership would help Armenia’s private space sector move toward practical international collaboration in near-space capabilities, advanced payload integration and edge computing.

Bazoomq co-founder and board member Hayk Martirosyan said high-altitude platform systems could support persistent observation, resilient communications and faster testing of advanced payloads.Bazoomq has previously flown stratospheric balloons with AYAS Aerospace Society, capturing imagery of Armenia from about 30 kilometres altitude. The partners said their collaboration will follow a test-first model before more advanced missions are attempted.