Why pivot from public health to aerospace

Mikkel Vestergaard isn’t a typical aerospace founder. Before building solar-powered stratospheric airships, he spent two decades in humanitarian innovation, distributing a billion malaria nets, co-creating the LifeStraw, and helping eradicate Guinea worm disease. Now, as CEO of Sceye, he’s applying that same ethos to aerospace.

In this conversation, Mikkel dives deep into the origins, design, and future of High-Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS). We explore why the stratosphere is emerging as a new layer of infrastructure, filling the gap between satellites and towers, and how Sceye’s helium-filled, solar-powered airships could reshape internet connectivity, earth observation, and national security.

We cover:

• Why Mikkel pivoted from global health to aerospace
• The engineering that makes persistent stratospheric flight possible
• How Sceye closes the “power loop” to stay aloft for months
• Commercial applications from telecom to methane detection
• Strategic partnerships with SoftBank, América Móvil, and Mawarid
• The defense potential of HAPS
• The business model behind “infrastructure as a service”
• What it takes to build investor conviction around a platform that feels left-field

• Chapters •

00:00 – Intro

01:52 – Life before Sceye

02:51 – Work at Lifestraw

06:31 – What is Lifestraw?

07:50 – Making the pivot from global health to aerospace and working at Sceye

10:52 – HAPS or High-Altitude Platform Systems

12:25 – Why choose a balloon over a fixed wing aircraft?

14:04 – Types of payloads

16:06 – Not Hindenburg 2.0

16:48 – How Mikkel's earlier material science experience shaped Sceye's design decisions

18:09 – Pitching Sceye to investors

19:16 – Common misconceptions of stratospheric platforms

20:41 – What can HAPS do for the telecommunications industry?

25:03 – How many HAPS would we need to provide global coverage?

25:24 – Sceye's equity investor partners

26:00 – When Sceye will be fully commercialized

28:34 – Other use cases

31:33 – Advantages over satellites

32:34 – National security use cases

33:31 – The business model of HAPS

34:52 – Sceye's next iteration of customers

35:40 – How Sceye is building their team

36:56 – Manufacturing process and scaling

37:53 – Capital to scale

38:25 – What keeps Mikkel up at night

39:38 – What does success to Sceye look like
 

• Show notes •

SCEYE’s website — https://sceye.com/

Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam

Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace

Ignition’s socials — https://twitter.com/ignitionnuclear / 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/

Tectonic’s socials — https://twitter.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/

Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/

• About us •

Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies.

• Payload: www.payloadspace.com
• Ignition: www.ignition-news.com
• Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com