>I sort of handwaved the drag away by claiming this really only makes sense at low velocities. I did see that, so I figured this "pre-buttal" would come up. B

>I sort of handwaved the drag away by claiming this really only makes sense at low velocities. I did see that, so I figured this "pre-buttal" would come up. But... how low "low" is still matters! Quantity makes a difference, even post-handwaving. If that extra drag makes you go from (say) 20% weather availability down to 10% availability, that's a significant incremental operating cost. It's not like "the wind problem can't get any worse!" if we mention it beforehand. It can (and would) get quantitatively worse with a larger balloon, and that has a non-trivial cost. >shape the balloon like [a low-drag body] I was assuming you'd do that anyway, and that "spherical cow" math was Fermi estimation. Actual spheres are surprisingly draggy!