Can balloons compete w/sails?

Let’s be honest. Sails work 10,000 times better than SW balloons. If 30 km is the biggest balloon we can make, then a 300m sail will have equal thrust. At 5gm/m2, that is a mass of 354 kg. With some incremental improvements to sail materials, Winglee’s COTS advantage will be gone. Should we invest in mag balloons when sails are nearly there?
YES! Because there are ways to make balloons even more efficient, and therefore better than sails.
If plasma is opaque to light, even at 0.1% its a 10-fold increase in thrust over SW.

YES! Because there are ways to make balloons even more efficient, and therefore better than sails.