Abstract: A portable airborne multi-mission platform designed to collect meteorological data and perform other missions, either alone or in a modular array. Each portable airborne multi-mission platform comprises a tethered aerostat; a hydrogen generation, storage, and recovery system; and a control system. The tethered aerostat consists of an airship, a horizontal axis wind turbine, and a tether cable. The airship is both self-inflating and self-deflating and has the geometry of a wind concentrator and diffuser in fluid communication with the wind turbine.

Abstract: A portable airborne wind-energy power conversion system, alone or in a modular array, wherein each portable airborne system comprises tethered airship, hydrogen generation system, hydrogen recovery system, and control system, wherein the tethered airship comprises a self-inflating horizontal-axis wind turbine rotor, an electrical generator, a self-inflating aerodynamic shroud surrounding the wind turbine rotor, and stabilizing fins, wherein the aerodynamic shroud has the geometry of a wind concentrator and diffuser in fluid communication with the wind turbine rotor that is located in the narrowest section of the shroud between the concentrator and diffuser sections of said shroud, wherein the airship is additionally self-deflating and the entire system is collapsible into a volume less than one tenth of its original size, so that the portable airborne system can be easily transported, stored, or relocated, wherein the system can continue to produce usable power, even during the process of self-deflation.