ARIA is the UK’s Advanced Research and Innovation Agency, sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology. ARIA funds breakthrough R&D in underexplored areas to catalyse new paths to prosperity for the UK and the world.
ARIA’s £50m Enduring Atmospheric Platforms programme sits within the Scoping Our Planet opportunity space and aims to develop low-cost, persistent, and autonomous atmospheric platforms.
This call is funding the development of atmospheric platforms capable of a specific, galvanising demonstration: keeping a payload aloft and powered for seven days while maintaining precise station-keeping.
We are solution-agnostic – accepting proposals for fixed-wing, lighter-than-air, hybrid, or novel architectures – provided they can meet the programme’s primary technical metrics.
- Power: Continuous delivery of 300 W to the payload (50.4 kWh total over one week).
- Payload: Capacity to support a 20 kg payload.
- Station Keeping: Ability to maintain line-of-sight contact with a fixed ground point throughout operation.
- Cost: A credible techno-economic path to a gross operating cost of <£500/hour by the end of the programme.
By overcoming these key aerodynamic and energetic challenges, we hope to unlock a resilient, and regionally scalable alternative to orbital satellites, and enable the delivery of ubiquitous, high-performance connectivity required to unlock the massive economic potential of AI.
The programme’s Technical Areas (TA) efforts run in parallel. Applicants can apply for a single or several TAs.
TA1 | Enabling Technologies: Focused on game-changing enabling technologies – such as power beaming, high-density energy storage, or novel materials – that make the development of a full system comparatively low risk.
TA2 | System Integration + Testing: Focused on developing and testing the platforms to achieve the primary metric: continuous delivery of power to a payload while keeping station.
TA3 | Deployment + Communications Architecture: Focused on technical, regulatory and commercial viability.
Please read the call for proposals to find out what is in and out of scope for each area.
Who can apply?
ARIA invite applications from interdisciplinary teams that bridge fields such as aerospace engineering, advanced materials, energy generation, energy storage, and autonomy. We welcome proposals from scientists and engineers at universities, research institutes, startups, and established companies, as well as from individuals.
We encourage collaborative teams (the ARIA teaming tool is available here), but solo applicants are also invited to apply and we can assist in forming teams. Applicants can be based in the UK or abroad.
Briefing and support
ARIA hosted a webinar about the Enduring Atmospheric Platforms programme in December 2025 and it is available to watch on Vimeo.