Third small prototype of megascale isotropic kite concept

The megascale concept of a pure soft-kite isotropic wing was shown to work at meter-scale, but due to the crudeness of the untailored triangular playsail, it tended to luff. Next to test is common anti-luff solutions like reflex, ram-air battens, sawtooth turbulation, LE backpressure, and so forth. Then comes a motorized version able to fly persistently in calm by tilting in towed circles (or generate cross-wind power back-and-forth). If all goes well, scaling way up cheap and fast would follow. The ultimate giant versions would be low-solidity networks of soft-wing surfaces, with bridling and halyards to raise any kind of application payload, from energy to habitats. Guylines would maintain suspended payloads in place, as the overarching structure gambols about.

CoolIP*                     
~Dave Santos                 26Jan2012  
 AWES5534

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