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Plum

Solar balloon (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 7 months ago by Plum to c/wikipedia

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I suppose a big one could generate a small amount of electricity, but:

You'd run out of tether pretty quickly
Any wind at all makes retrieval more difficult
You'd be limited to areas with unrestricted airspace, which only exists in very rural areas

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

When it reaches the end of the tether, the taut tether pulls a mechanism to open the top and let the hot air out. The mechanism gives it enough weight to come down again. Once it comes down, the top gets shut again (somehow?). A wind powered fan inflates it again, and back up it goes.