Strato represents the latest advance in a decade of Meteodrone development, extending the platform's on-demand, repeatable vertical profiling capability from the lower atmosphere to the top of the weather. Where earlier Meteodrones measured up to six kilometers, Strato is designed to operate up to 12 kilometers, positioning it as a direct, reusable alternative to the radiosonde — the balloon-borne instrument that has been the industry standard for atmospheric sounding for nearly a century.

To operate reliably at these altitudes, Strato was engineered to withstand the upper atmosphere's extreme conditions. The drone is rated for sustained winds up to 130 km/h (80 mph), with an aerodynamic body and active wind-mode control that let it orient itself into headwinds. A rain-resistant, waterproof design supports operation in wet conditions, and an integrated active de-icing system automatically heats the propellers when it detects icing conditions. Strato provides real-time telemetry, including altitude, wind, temperature, and icing alerts, to the operator throughout flight.

“Ten years ago, this was a business case on paper and a vision. Today it's a drone that reaches ten thousand meters. Strato proves the atmosphere doesn't stop at six kilometers — and neither do we, said Dr. Martin Fengler, CEO of Meteomatics. "We didn't just build a taller drone. We built the next stage of a moonshot: replacing the radiosonde, one flight at a time.”

On the engineering side, the team behind Strato points to consistency as the real achievement. "It was very important for us to be able to consistently fly to these high altitudes," said Dr. Enrico Ajanic, Product Owner and Senior Engineer on the Strato program. "Weather is not an excuse — we can do it with this drone."

That consistency translates directly into forecast quality, according to Meteomatics' weather prediction team. "The jet stream is basically the highway that every weather system travels on in the northern hemisphere, west to east," said Johannes Rausch, Head of Weather Prediction at Meteomatics. "If the data isn't located correctly relative to the jet stream, the forecast won't be reliable either."

"When we have more data in the models, it's a more complete picture of the atmosphere," said Brad Guay, Head of Government and Defense Solutions at Meteomatics. "We fill in those blind spots so we can see better into the future."

Strato was formally introduced to attendees at Meteomatics' booth (B30) at Met Tech World Expo 2026 in Amsterdam, running October 6–8. The company will follow the launch with detailed technical and engineering content in the coming weeks, alongside a dedicated product page at meteomatics.com.

About Meteomatics: Meteomatics AG is a weather intelligence company headquartered in St. Gallen, Switzerland, providing high-resolution weather and atmospheric data through its API, together with its Meteodrone line of weather-measuring drones. Meteomatics serves 700+ global customers across energy, aviation, government and defense, insurance, and agriculture worldwide.