[Electro]

If you could mount a powerful cell phone repeater it would be more valuable than an Aerostat as whenever a cell tower is taken down, you simply need to fly one or more over an area to cover it.

They might even be a cheaper more efficient way of covering densely populated areas than paying exorbitant land fees and the constant battle to get them placed. I really don't see how a plane that can fly for 5 years wouldn't benefit the Cellular industry.

It would also help wildlife studies. I mean simply program one to follow a high density of radio transmitters, and tag as many birds as humanly possible before they migrate and then you've got perminant tracking and monitoring of the birds flight positions. The plane could be equipped to transmit the locations through a satellite telephone link or other such device.

I'm sure there are thousands of uses. Terrain mapping, you just strap a camera to the bottom and GPS and you could have it build up a high detailed map of an area. I mean it would be a lot more useful for any industry that requires land surveys as getting a high detailed map with a wide angled lense would allow you to build up a topological map.

Hell you might even be able to spot useful resources, or really anything visible from altitude. Police could use it to find recent graves with infrared and optical sensors and it'd be cheaper and faster in open areas than using people.

As I write this I realise the list is literally nearly endless, so I think I'll save myself the time and STFU now before I get carpel tunnel!

[cstejerean]

The possibilities are endless, but not all the scenarios you describe require planes that can stay in flight for 5 years. For a lot of the scenarios you describe it would suffice to have a fleet of planes that take off, fly, land, resupply and take off again completely autonomously.