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Level 1: A Helium filled internet platform

This would be our first choice. It sure seams like there is enough interest out there to give cheap Internet access to the part of the World population that still lacks it. Both Facebook and Google invest huge money right now to make it happen. We offer our unique technical solution free for them to use if they choose to do so. Even the smallest stable Helium filled unit will generate up to 140 MW of solar power. Anchor it with some battery packs and you can have MWs of power and a stable communications platform 20 km of the ground, making for some 500 km radius of direct sight visibility, even in the remotest area imaginable. High power available for the communications platform can make for simpler and cheaper client hardware. No other concept that we know of can match this combination of long range and high wireless signal power. C.H.A.M.P.'s modular design and overpressure modules using double membranes to keep the correct shape as they lift to the target height, allow for the complete structure to be build where it is most convenient and then towed to the desired location. Since the whole structure is much lighter than air even foundations and batteries can be towed together as a single package. Surplus power can of course be utilized to help the nearby communities as well, for example for people to recharge their batteries, refrigeration or whatever is most needed at the location.

Level 2: A Methane filled solar power station

C.H.A.M.P.'s unique light weight design allows it to stay stable even with the cheap Methane used as lifting gas. This is crucial since there is not enough Helium on Earth to keep enough C.H.A.M.P. units afloat for us to solve the Climate crisis. Hydrogen could of course be used as well, but it is much more difficult to keep Hydrogen within a membrane then Methane. Actually, we couldn't even find any reliable figures for Mylar permeability to Methane as we did for Helium and Hydrogen, leading us to a conclusion that this difficult permeability issue can be neglected altogether for Methane as a lifting gas. Our reference design shows a 3.000 m wide unit would generate up to 1 GW of clean, predictable solar power, using almost no land area. Again the whole unit can be built off site and towed to its desired location, including some very remote places high in the mountains or deep in impassable forests. No other existing technology can provide clean power of this magnitude in such remote locations! And with very little environmentally damaging construction work needed on site.

Level 3: Control of micro-climate

Now this could also be step 1 because of its simplicity and many possible uses. We can see C.H.A.M.P.s being used as permanent shadows in hot desert areas (using just Aluminum foil on top instead of solar panels) or to create a strong greenhouse effect in some cold areas (using transparent membrane and Methane as lifting gas) would be most useful. Our rudimentary weather simulations show an opaque C.H.A.M.P. unit would create a small colder area of slightly higher air pressure with the sun shining on it, complete with light anticyclone winds. Apart from looking really cool , this could be put to good use by giving additional boost to wind farms, especially if well placed within them. For example, western Sahara desert seams like a perfect spot for a row of large permanent shadow C.H.A.M.P.'s in east-west direction. This would amplify already strong east-west winds in the area and bring some much needed moisture into the desert…

Level 4: A Dyson sphere of sorts: The C.H.A.M.P. Ring

If you thought a 3 km wide C.H.A.M.P. unit is a bit stretched, how about a 40.000 km long and 10 km wide ring around Earth's equator? It would generate a cool 12.000 GW of non stop power all year around or about 11x the current US total power generation capacity, all the while “using” less then 0,1% of Earth's total land area. Now add to that a superconducting distribution network (not so hard to imagine at -50ºC up there) and we could solve all Earths power needs with a single “device”. Hell, if need be, we could also coil those superconducting lines to amplify Earth's magnetic field so much that no solar storm would ever be able to reach us. Now, how's that for a Star Trek® episode ?

Level 5: Say what? There's still more after The C.H.A.M.P. Ring?