Thanks gentlemen,

Bruce,

Could foam really be practical going onto and off of a tether as it goes onto and off of a spool? Thanks for your confirmation of these basic possibilities.

I would appreciate it if both of you would read or re-read postings 1 and 7 in the thread: ARTAGs -- Autonomous Reciprocating Tethered Airfoil Generators and vote for the ARTAG design of your choice. I would appreciate your reviews. And while you're there please tell me why my postings are as wide as a mile, when other's postings look so reasonable.

But you're right Bruce. My professional experience is in embedded software and electronics. I could automate the sensors, servomechanisms, flight patterns, etc. I am rapidly coming up to speed regarding the aerodynamics. I would greatly prefer that someone knowledgeable and committed do that, but as yet no one has stepped up to the plate, so I learn as best I can. I sincerely appreciate your help. I am thinking though of approaching some schools of aeronautics to find someone who might wish to apply for a grant parallel to the one I am applying for. I could get a grant to develop the automation. Another could get a grant to develop the aeronautics. Could either of you recommend someone who would be interested in working with me on this. The grant application deadline is approaching the end of January.

I firmly believe this project could really take off if we can get enough people and/or resources on board to reach critical mass.

Regarding the earlier paper I wrote, you may remember that I read somewhere that doubling the tether diameter multiplies the drag by 2.5 The effect of this is that if all of the kite dimensions are doubled, the lift quadruples and the tether drag multiplies by 2.5 meaning that the over-all lift to drag ratio improves by a factor of 1.6 The point of all of this Bruce, is that if we are successful in small scale, we should have a smashing success if full scale.



-- Wayne