[An4ximandros]

A flying wind turbine! At the end, sadly, it is consumed by a Supernova event.

[Phantom Hoover]

it has to go, its planet needs it

[Rodo]

I could use one of those to power my electroshock based torturing chamber, right at my backyard.

[Mikes]

I want one, where can I buy it ?

[Luis Dias]

Nice.

[Colonol Dekker]

If it could power itself.......

Hoverpants!

[Aardwolf]

So it's a kite with a turbine and a generator in it, and power cables for the tether. Ok.

What happens in a hurricane?

[Scourge of Ages]

What happens in a hurricane?

Well you'd reel it in for storage, presumably.

[Rodo]

Yeah, or you don't deploy them in huricane zones at all and use other energy sources like tidal generators or something.

Ha! look at me, being all green and positive. Cannot even believe it, I have faith in future now!

[InsaneBaron]

A very interesting idea. But it seems a little... fragile. Cables and cloth and everything. I expect it would be pretty high maintenance; you'd need to replace the tether and patch the balloon.

I like the idea of using them as emergency power sources in disaster areas. Portable, and a lot more efficient and clean than gas generators.

I wonder if you could rig one to a ship? (not a spaceship, an ocean liner). It would likely generate a lot of electricity in that form. Not sure if it would be enough to power the whole ship, but maybe as an emergency/auxiliary source.

[headdie]

A very interesting idea. But it seems a little... fragile. Cables and cloth and everything. I expect it would be pretty high maintenance; you'd need to replace the tether and patch the balloon.

as they are talking the 1-2000 feet range in altitude I imagine while deployed aside from the ever present risk of a bird not looking where it's going you should be ok, winds above the operational range will probably be predictable and I think that would be about it for threats to the envelope.  the tether on the other hand is interesting because it will both be under strain and probably hot from the power flow.

I like the idea of using them as emergency power sources in disaster areas. Portable, and a lot more efficient and clean than gas generators.

the size shown in the vid concerns me, but then we dont know how compact the unit can be shipped.

I wonder if you could rig one to a ship? (not a spaceship, an ocean liner). It would likely generate a lot of electricity in that form. Not sure if it would be enough to power the whole ship, but maybe as an emergency/auxiliary source.

dont see an issue with it, certainly for larger vessels, though again the size of the unit could work against it there as that storage space could probably have a better use most of the time

[InsaneBaron]

A very interesting idea. But it seems a little... fragile. Cables and cloth and everything. I expect it would be pretty high maintenance; you'd need to replace the tether and patch the balloon.

as they are talking the 1-2000 feet range in altitude I imagine while deployed aside from the ever present risk of a bird not looking where it's going you should be ok, winds above the operational range will probably be predictable and I think that would be about it for threats to the envelope.  the tether on the other hand is interesting because it will both be under strain and probably hot from the power flow.

I like the idea of using them as emergency power sources in disaster areas. Portable, and a lot more efficient and clean than gas generators.

the size shown in the vid concerns me, but then we dont know how compact the unit can be shipped.

I wonder if you could rig one to a ship? (not a spaceship, an ocean liner). It would likely generate a lot of electricity in that form. Not sure if it would be enough to power the whole ship, but maybe as an emergency/auxiliary source.

dont see an issue with it, certainly for larger vessels, though again the size of the unit could work against it there as that storage space could probably have a better use most of the time

Good point about the envelope. The tether is probably the issue.

Regarding portability, I imagine you could make them in a lot of sizes. You could probably design the mechanical parts to be disassembled for transport, which just leaves the envelope and tether.

[headdie]

level of disassembly is certainly an unknown here

[Max Sterling]

Sorry, did someone call me?