Aspects of the technology relate to temperature regulation for high altitude, long duration balloons, such as balloons that operate in the stratosphere for weeks, months or longer. A balloon covering overlays the balloon envelope, providing an opaque or otherwise light-reflective layer with low emissivity that blocks or reflects optical and/or infrared light. Heat from within the envelope is reflected back from the covering toward the envelope, while light from the sun is reflected back towards the environment. An active venting system is employed to draw in cooler ambient air from the external environment while expelling warmer air from within the envelope. Vent and air intake assemblies of the active venting system are actuated in view of current and/or predicted balloon conditions to regulate internal balloon temperature. This approach reduces repeated pressure changes, which can put undue stress on the balloon envelope and adversely affect the operational lifespan of the system.

A flying robot (10) with projector, including a movable end (100) and a fixed end (200). A distributed working mode is used on the movable end (100) and the fixed end (200). The movable end (100) includes a top (110), a main body (120) and a bottom (130). The top (110) includes a lift system (112) and one or more proximity sensors (114); the main body (120) is a sealed hollow spherical body or spheroid body made of a film material capable of being used as a rear projection screen, and is filled with a gas of which the density is less than that of the air. The bottom (130) includes one or more rear projectors (131), a wireless communication module (132), a microcontroller (133), a battery (134), a direction and steering controlling device (135), a camera device (136), a sound capturing and reproduction device (137), a height sensor (138) and other sensors, etc. The fixed end (200) includes a wireless communication module (220), a control apparatus (240), a charging port (260), and other data interfaces, etc. The flying robot (10) with projector according to the present invention facilitates human-machine interaction and is suitable for being used in both indoor and outdoor environments.

A drone apparatus or arrangement is provided. The drone apparatus or arrangement includes a plurality of drone devices, each drone device including an unmanned vehicle configured to be controlled to hover in air at a desired height and move to a desired location, each drone device comprising a rechargeable battery connected to an exposed drone recharging surface, and a surface apparatus connected to the plurality of drone devices such that the plurality of drone devices are collectively controllable to reposition the surface apparatus to a desired location. Each drone device is configured to connect to and recharge at a compatible charging station including an exposed recharging station recharging surface configured to meet with one exposed drone recharging surface to recharge the rechargeable battery.

[Object] To provide a high-place observation device for stably performing a fixed-point observation of a target object from a high place. [Solution] Provides a long pole 30 which is formed to extend and contract freely and which stands on the installation surface E, a rotorcraft 40 for positioning the pole 30 to a desirable height position by extending and contracting the pole 30 by a floating force in a connected state, a winding mechanism 22 which fixes and maintains the height position of the pole 30 to the height position set by the rotorcraft 40, and a camera 50 attached to the rotorcraft 40.

The technology relates to generating a flight map for an aircraft. For instance, this may include, running a plurality of simulations by placing a simulated aircraft within each cell of a grid representing areas of the earth and using predicted wind data. Each simulations identifies a cell in which each aircraft is located at the end of the simulation. A connection graph may be generated using any identified cells. The connection graph may be used to determine a flight map for an actual aircraft using a cost function and iterating from a destination cell to an initial cell. The flight map may be used to determine a route for the actual aircraft. In some examples, the flight map may be refined by running further simulations. The refined flight map may then be used to determine a route for the actual aircraft.

Air-buoyant structures, and vehicles incorporating air-buoyant structures, are provided. Hollow, air-buoyant structures may include a shell of ultra-low density aerogel material, foam material, or vapor-expanded material that is strong and stiff enough to withstand atmospheric pressure and lightweight enough to achieve buoyancy in air under evacuation. The shell may be reinforced with a suitable reinforcing material, such as helical nanofibers. The air-buoyant structures may also include vacuum pumps and valves operably connected to or integrated with the hollow shell. The vacuum pumps and valves may be configured to pump air out of the hollow shell and allow air back into the hollow shell to control buoyancy.

The invention relates to a system (10) comprising at least one first device (20) movable in a controlled manner and at least one second device (27), which is arranged on said at least one first device, for applying material. In order to produce complex structures in a simple manner, according to the invention, the at least one first device (20) movable in a controlled manner is formed by an aircraft (20) provided with at least one rotor (21), which aircraft comprises at least one container (231; 232) for storing the material.

Overall efficiency and/or flight time of UAVs and Drones can be increased by adding elements containing lighter-than-air gasses; and/or by reducing and/or eliminating the power supplied to any combination of the motors to reduce overall power consumption. In an aspect the configuration of a blimp drone comprises at least one air cavity/chamber/container filled with lighter-than-air gasses. The 3D chambers are made from swept or extruded closed 2D geometry and are detachable from the Drone and can be transparent or camouflaged in color. To maintain control and altitude of the aircraft, lifting surfaces can be incorporated. Such lifting surfaces may include active and/or passive control surfaces to maintain flight stability. Additionally, cavities, fissures, orifices and valves may be added to the surface of the flying vehicle to gain other efficiency advantages.

An airborne computational facility uses an energy collection system to provide energy for operation. An airborne balloon is provided with a photovoltaic collector array, and uses energy generated by the photovoltaic collector array to power an on-board computational facility. Data for computation is received by a communication module and computational results are transmitted by the communication module.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to batteries for use in the stratosphere, such as those employed on aerial vehicles. The battery may include an outer case structure, a thermal insulator such as foam arranged within the outer case structure, a battery management unit and a plurality of battery cells both arranged within the thermal insulator, and a heater arranged within the thermal insulator and around the battery cells. In some instances, the battery may also include a thermal reflector arranged between the heater and the thermal insulator, wherein a surface of the thermal reflector is arranged to reflect heat back towards ones of the plurality of battery cells. In some instances, the thermal insulator may include overlapping baffles to reduce an amount of air passing from the outer case and through the thermal insulator. In some instances, the outer case may include a plastic layer with a low emissivity coating.