Envelope With Gas Management System For Lighter-Than-Air Aircraft

An envelope holds gas in a lighter-than-air aircraft. The envelope has an outer shell, an inner wall, a compressor, and a valve. The outer shell has an upper surface, a lower surface, a leading edge, a trailing edge, opposing side surfaces, and an airfoil-shaped lateral cross-section. The inner wall divides the outer shell into high and low pressure chambers. The compressor is disposed between the high and low pressure chambers and controlled to selectively force gas from the low pressure chamber to flow into the high pressure chamber. The valve is disposed between the high pressure chamber and the low pressure chamber and controlled to selectively permit gas from the high pressure chamber to flow into the low pressure chamber.