>>Some time ago Google had a similar idea using balloons:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Loon>
>Have they given up on that ?
The end of the Wiki article "History" section says as of March 2, 2015 a balloon had a 187 day endurance record. So it looks ongoing, at least at some low level.
I imagine they now have world-leading knowledge of certain parts of the Earth's upper atmosphere.
>On Dmitry's concerns: there was recently a news item claiming untraced drones had been seen flying over several French nuclear power stations....
>The manufacturers of the drone that I've got are now apparently hard-wiring 'no fly zones' into the GPS control....
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/18/politics/white-house-drone-charges/As for the GPS no fly zones - seems to me quadcopter drones are modular. Keep the hardware platform, but swap out the flight controls if they don't let you go where you want.
Regards. Al
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