Now, could you attach a retractable solar balloon to a sailplane, in order to get it off the ground on its own power? What about a lifting body shape, like a m

Now, could you attach a retractable solar balloon to a sailplane, in order to get it off the ground on its own power? What about a lifting body shape, like a manta ray? Could you flap its wings to provide thrust? Like this, but matte black: https://youtu.be/c3-wIICjAhE https://youtu.be/c3-wIICjAhE Though, you can't have the wings collapse just because you entered shade... How do we get the best of both worlds? Maybe long rigid sailplane wings extending from a larger blimplike body? You'd need to do something to maintain an aerodynamic shape for the balloon even when it was "collapsed". It'd be nice if that could happen passively (say, just using an elastic material), but that might "fight" inflation too much; maybe active control would be needed, say of some struts or cables internal to the balloon. With some effort I feel a new recreational vehicle may be possible. Probably you'd want it to be classified as an ultralight, so anyone could fly it. Not an easy design challenge though. Maybe a solar powered sailplane with an electric prop would be simpler. I'd still love to see a more elegant, lower-tech approach though. Actually: What about pedal power? https://ecofriend.com/eco-tech-pedal-your-way-to-the-skies-with-airbike.html https://ecofriend.com/eco-tech-pedal-your-way-to-the-skies-w... Hm. Now we have three ideas to unify: Gliding, solar-thermal lighter-than-air, and human power. Hm.