Space Pirate

For last years NASA power beaming challenge we rented a helicopter for $30k. I am toying with the idea of replacing the helicopter with a kite. The kite would need to be able to fly about 4000 ft agl on its main string while lifting a second line vertically at least 1 km for our robots to climb while they get their power from multi-kilowatt lasers. We have checked into military versions of such devices but they are not really any cheaper than the helicopter. We have also looked into balloons extensively and as soon as you add in a wind requirement the cost soars. It's actually more expensive than a rented helicopter. kytoons look promising but I just can't find enough information on the net to make any judgements about them. The original competition spec called for robots up to 50 kg. The actual competition saw nothing over 10 kg. I don't expect to see more than that this round either. The problems I have foreseen are that we would have minimum wind requirements. Gust, and wind direction issues. We would need a competent winch and we might have trouble keeping the climb line over the top of the lasers and vertical. This is also an unknown vs the helicopter. So if we can't cut the cost substantially there is not much point. However we could perhaps use the kite many more hours and days than the helicopter adding to it's value. The kite might also let us move to a less expensive venue further reducing costs. Last years venue was also over $30k. Multi-kite, multi-line, delta, parafoil- heck even paraglider are all up for discussion. spaceelevatorgames.org Brian