"Unfortunately, the IR Montgolfière concept encounters a very serious problem in outer planet environments, in the form of convective losses. IR Mongolfière balloons operating successfully on Earth suffer only small heat losses through conduction-convection, but on all the planets considered here, convective losses are large because of the low molecular weight of the atmosphere."

-- Phillippe H. Adam, Olivier Duchemin, Richard Mason, and Muriel Noca, "Autonomous Parafoils for the Exploration of Outer Planet Atmospheres," 14th Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technology Conference and Seminar, San Francisco, CA, June 3-5, 1997, AIAA-1997-1428.