4 ms·
Great idea! How to control buoyancy? I guess you need some ballast to keep the whole system close to air density, and a pump to put / remove air, for fine tunin
by gonvaled 14y ago
Great idea! How to control buoyancy? I guess you need some ballast to keep the whole system close to air density, and a pump to put / remove air, for fine tuning depending on conditions (temperature, ...) and what you want to do (go up / down)
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoHelium balloons don't need all that. They get by with significant positive buoyancy and a simple string. Seems reasonable for any balloon replacement to do the same.
- gonvaled 14y agoI was assuming the material is rigid (which is wrong). So my idea (continuing the suggestion of parent) was to put / remove air from the surrounding volume to the mylar balloon (which means, in the aerogel) to modify the density of the system and thus the buoyancy. This would require energy to run the pump, so it is not clear this would be more efficient than normal air balloons (but would be less dangerous, since no fire is needed). Of course, nothing mentioned here makes any sense since the material is not rigid.
- gonvaled 14y agoAnd sorry, I was referring to air balloons (as "flying machines"), not to party balloons. Those are indeed very simple, as you mention.