A kite balloon combines a lifting gas with active lift structures like wings to fly in all conditions. A good design may solve the common difficulty of flying in light winds, which makes balloon mapping difficult, but still falls short of kite-flying weather. It may also help reduce helium use, and therefore price.
Developments thus far:
ideas for oval kite balloons.
Materials:
Mylar and EVOH, because they are gas barriers, unlike HDPE/LDPE EVOH can be heat seamed. Mylar must be glued.
EVOH available for sale at balloonkits.com
Heat Seaming Tutorial
Mylar should be glued with UHU Power Stic according to forum discussion on RC Groups. UHU Power STic doesn't appear to be for sale in the USA, but can be found on Ebay.
Small Commercial Kite balloons:
Tests are occurring at the Gowanus Canal site:
and in Lima Peru: