@PerryMK

I can't say for sure but I don't think the helium is a plausible solution to weight management. Helium has 0.0114 pounds of upward force/cubic foot. That means to decrease the weight by one pound you would need over 2000 liters of helium. I think the better thing would be to just focus on decreasing weight by way of materials (titanium, lighter fabric etc.) And unfortunately I don't think my group is in capable of creating a whole new material in such a short time.

I like the idea of maybe improving solar charges, or battery packs. Not necessarily how they work but maybe in their implementation or recharging. One thought I had was a crank charger that could use the flow of a river to charge a power bank, basically a small hydroelectric setup.

Thanks a lot for the input, I really appreciate it.