Recent advances in diverse technological frontiers such as materials and information sciences have reignited hope in harnessing the high-altitude domain. But before balloons can supplant satellites, the technology has to overcome some serious limitations. The solution to maintaining balloon presence is mastering the winds. And although balloon navigation is still in its nascent stages, archival data, experimentation, preoperational flights, and predictive algorithms could eventually allow a functional geostationary presence at most latitudes and in most seasons.
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