| 摘要 |
The main buoyancy is provided by helium (16), pressurized to about 300 Pa, in a gas-tight outer envelope (15) of e.g. Mylar (RTM).Opt., the volume is divided among several ballonets. The shape is maintained by a peripheral toroidal helium chamber (3), at about 500 Pa, stiffened by a part-toroidal rigid support (4), e.g. carbon fibre-based, divided into e.g. 3 sectoral parts. These are each connected by 4 cables (5) to a central, vertical-axis cylinder (1) of the same material, containing the payload and operational equipment, etc. Continual rotation keeps the cables under tension. The envelope top, covered externally by solar panels (21), is opt. metallised internally (23) to reflect signals from the ground traversing the radio-transparent underside (25).- DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Batteries (19) and/or fuel cells charged in daylight maintain power overnight. Air for the ion engines, scooped by the brake foils (9), when extended, into their housings, is drawn when required through ducts (26) into the engines (8), one of which is mounted on each support sector (4). Differential operation of individual engines and brake-foils makes translational linear motion possible for station-keeping. The aerostat has typically a diameter of 30m, depth 10m, mass 150kg, volume 2200 cu.m, and maximum translational speed 150 km/h
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