FAA wants you to use hydrogen. >roll safe<
replyOkay, though, for very small hobbyist payloads, though, wouldn't hydrogen balloons be feasible?
replySome quick math tells me that you can lift approximately a kilogram of mass per cubic meter (at sea level, anyway). If your balloon's full weight is a half of a kilogram, you'd only need about a large beach ball filled with hydrogen to lift it. That seems like something that would be attainable for an outdoor DIY electrolysis setup.
As well they should be. The tether represents far more of a risk to aviation than the actual baloon. Not only it is much larger a collision risk, it cuts through GA airspace where all the delicate stuff flies.
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