a hot air balloon with magnets inside that confine the internal heated hydrogen protons ( plasma )

the plasma barely contact the inside of the baloon due to magneto confinement and thus loses very little heat to production.

radiative heat loses are minimized by a radiation reflecting internal coating. the plasma is relatively cold and thus not terribly abrasive o the inside of the balloon.

in this manner you can heat the plasma through induction and keep the balloon TOTALLY sealed. and highly controlled internally.

obviously electromagnets can be heavy but you can use a fusor type electroconfinement device that is light weight and not meant to produce so much power as necessary for the purposes of fusing the hydrogen. the goal is just to keep it in place.

bonus point for making the sheath of the balloon magnetically repulsed by the magnetic repulsion caused by the plasmas magnetic field created as it moves around the ballon, presumably around a torroidal donut shaped core like a tokomac.
-- teslaberry, Mar 27 2014

Environments are everything. I imagine some sort of state change is necessary to get a balloon closer to space. Whether this, century away, form is the one, I don't think the knowledgeable halfbakers think so.
-- wjt, Mar 30 2014


(+) for introducing me to the word Tokomak.
That is going to be one very heavy balloon.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 30 2014



random, halfbakery