Abstract

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-1815.vid The high-altitude aerial platform concept called “Mothership” is a large scale, tethered wing that flies at 10km above the ground or higher. The operation altitude opens up a unique opportunity to harvest wind energy from strong jet streams. However, the necessity of a long and thick tether may significantly offset the benefit of strong wind power intensity. Accounting for inertia, aerodynamics, and elastic effect of a tether in the whole system dynamics, this study is aimed at assessing the potential of a very high-altitude airborne wind energy system.