1. Demand-driven research

1.1 Evolution of the atmospheric platform concept

For several decades now, the idea of using unmanned, environmentally-friendly aircraft, flying robots or lighter-than-air hybrid airships, has been attracting considerable interest for both civil and military applications.

As far as civil technologies are concerned, current studies, combined with recent ecological constraints, point to the development of stations on atmospheric platforms (high or low, HAPS or LAPS), of various structures and performances, for a range of tasks, performed singly or in combination, among which the following are proposed:

• point-to-point transport of heavy goods;

• disaster relief in hard-to-reach or urban...