Airborne Wind Energy Systems for Mars Habitats

Using renewable energy to power a Mars habitat is a technological challenge because resources such as solar and wind are significantly weaker than on Earth. This work investigates the feasibility of using airborne wind energy (AWE) systems in combination with solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to power a Mars habitat. The Luchsinger model and the...

Optimisation of control for an airborne wind turbine: with maximum power point tracking

Airborne wind energy is a promising newly emerging wind energy harvesting technology. Due to low material use and high potential harvesting density it aspires to be competitor to the conventional wind turbines we see today. Kitepower bv, a company in the Netherlands, is developing a airborne wind energy system based on a flexible kite. To be...

The turning of kites: A quantification of known theories

A method is introduced to measure the in flight flow field and geometric shape of an energy producing kite. The method is applied on beach tests during controlled flight maneuvers as well as equilibrium positions. The measurements of different sensors are validated by use of independent coherence of the found results. After this the deformations...