The world's first solar powered balloon flight

Developed by Cameron Balloons and funded by Bristol 2015 to mark the city’s status as the UK’s first European Green Capital, the black and silver balloon made its maiden journey at the 37th Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.
See more pictures here: www.bristol201... and find out more about the balloon and its construction here: www.bristol201...

[@quellenathanar]

Maybe add in photoelectric cells woven into the material of the the fabric...charge a battery to be used to power an electrical heating element to replace a gas burner.

[@pcsawyer]

World's first?? I saw an almost identical design over 30 years ago. First flight was over 3 hours. Maybe it wasn't certified though. I believe it was flown in a country like Saudi Arabia. And it was captured pictorially and was featured in a magazine -- might have been Aramco.

[@MrRaulstrnad]

iran in 1978

[@sampleoffers1978]

If battery balloon is possible, maybe that's concept for flying car. Heat a gas inside mylar with battery and or ultracapacitor ,then have compressed air tank onboard to cool gas for lowering, and side propellers to prevent overly rising.

[@subhasishmajumdar1990]

Beautiful , fantastic

[@h7opolo]

beautiful. i has many ideas...

[@Heikki_Finland]

Could the front face be transparent and the inside of the back face black, covered with silver from the outside? Trying to prevent the current black face to heat the air outside of the balloon.
Or can you put black smoke in the transparent balloon for it to catch sunlight and heat up everywhere, not just in the proximity of the canvas?
Interesting project. Why are there other than black balloons anyway?

[@loki1066]

Just watched it on tv.
Letting air out to rotate the balloon seemed wasteful.
Why not a electric motor and propeller on the basket to rotate it ?

[@WarhammerWings]

Nice!

[@raydickos]

Solar power with a burner ?

[@adamtain7627]

They say it’s just as a starter then the sun does the rest of the work

[@ilisati]

Can you buy one?