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That was my thought, too. E.g. a zeppelin-like drone could fly forever.
by faragon 9y ago
That was my thought, too. E.g. a zeppelin-like drone could fly forever.
- seanp2k2 9y agoHeat the air with direct solar to give it lift. Make it clear on the outside and have something black on the inside to absorb more heat. For bonus points, let it be deployable during flight...fly drone into position in plane mode, pop the blimp, inflating it with air from the forward travel inertia, heat it once with a small rocket motor or something, then let the sun keep it hot enough to float. When done, eject the balloon and fly back. I'm sure there are lots of details around why they don't do this.
- cr0sh 9y agoThere used to be (maybe still is?) a toy, sold by Edmund Scientific and others - that was basically a thin black and big dry cleaning bag. You'd basically take it outside on a sunny day, whip it around a bit to "fill" it with some air, tie it closed, and then let it heat up in the sun. Eventually, it would take shape, becoming buoyant, at which point you could let it go to float off (presumably tied down with a string if you wanted to keep it). I don't know if it is still available or not, or whether anyone ever added remote controls to it... Hmm - apparently it or something similar is still available - or you can try to build one yourself: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Solar-Heated-Balloon/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Solar-Heated-Balloon/
- honestoHeminway 9y agoBonus points- make the Ballonhull in place from carbon harvested from the atmosphere..